Optical binding with cold atoms

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the existence of optically bound states of cold atom pairs without non-radiative damping, exploring phase transitions and the role of angular momentum in stabilization.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of optical binding in cold atoms without damping and analyzes phase transitions and stabilization mechanisms.

Findings

Bound states exist without non-radiative damping.

Phase transition scaling laws are characterized.

Angular momentum enables dynamical stabilization.

Abstract

Optical binding is a form of light-mediated forces between elements of matter which emerge in response to the collective scattering of light. Such phenomenon has been studied mainly in the context of equilibrium stability of dielectric spheres arrays which move amid dissipative media. In this letter, we demonstrate that optically bounded states of a pair of cold atoms can exist, in the absence of non-radiative damping. We study the scaling laws for the unstable-stable phase transition at negative detuning and the unstable-metastable one for positive detuning. In addition, we show that angular momentum can lead to dynamical stabilisation with infinite range scaling.