Coherent control of light transport in a dense and disordered atomic ensemble

TL;DR

This paper investigates how dense, disordered atomic ensembles can be used to control light transport via electromagnetically-induced transparency, highlighting the role of atomic interactions and demonstrating efficient light storage with fewer atoms.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent approach to analyze light transport in dense atomic systems and shows EIT-based light storage is robust and requires fewer atoms than in dilute systems.

Findings

EIT-based light storage remains effective despite disorder and density.

Atomic interactions significantly influence light propagation.

Fewer atoms are needed for effective light storage in dense systems.

Abstract

Light transport in a dense and disordered cold atomic ensemble, where the cooperation of atomic dipoles essentially modifies their coupling with the radiation modes, offers an alternative approach to light-matter interfacing protocols. Here, we show how the cooperativity and quasi-static dipole interaction affect the process of light propagation under the conditions of electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT). We perform comparative analysis of the self-consistent approach with ab-initio microscopic calculations and emphasize the role of the interatomic interaction in the dipoles' dynamics. Our results show that in such a dense and strongly disordered system the EIT-based light storage protocol stays relatively insensitive to configuration variations and can be obtained with essentially less atoms than it is normally needed for dilute configurations.