Self-Organization Threshold Scaling for Thermal Atoms Coupled to a Cavity

TL;DR

This paper experimentally investigates the self-organization threshold of thermal rubidium atoms in a high-finesse cavity, revealing N-1 scaling and differences based on probing methods, advancing understanding of atom-cavity interactions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed experimental analysis of the self-organization threshold, highlighting the effects of probe configuration and confirming N-1 scaling with atom number.

Findings

Confirmed N-1 scaling of the threshold with atom number

Identified qualitative differences between probing with traveling wave and retroreflected lattice

Demonstrated the impact of cavity detuning on system response

Abstract

We make a detailed experimental study of the threshold for the self-organization of thermal 87Rb atoms coupled to a high-finesse cavity over a range of atom numbers and cavity detunings. We investigate the difference between probing with a traveling wave and a retroreflected lattice. These two scenarios lead to qualitatively different behavior in terms of the response of the system as a function of cavity detuning with respect to the probe. In both cases, we confirm a N-1 scaling of the threshold with atom number.