Optical-depth scaling of light scattering from a dense and cold atomic $^{87}$Rb gas

TL;DR

This study investigates how the optical depth influences light scattering in a dense, cold $^{87}$Rb atomic gas, revealing it as a key scaling parameter for scattering behavior near resonance.

Contribution

It demonstrates that optical depth universally scales light scattering in dense atomic gases, simplifying the understanding of complex scattering phenomena.

Findings

Optical depth effectively predicts scattering intensity across various conditions.

Scattering behavior depends primarily on optical depth rather than other sample parameters.

The results unify the understanding of light scattering in dense atomic ensembles.

Abstract

We report investigation of near-resonance light scattering from a cold and dense atomic gas of $^{87}$Rb atoms. Measurements are made for probe frequencies tuned near the $F=2\to F'=3$ nearly closed hyperfine transition, with particular attention paid to the dependence of the scattered light intensity on detuning from resonance, the number of atoms in the sample, and atomic sample size. We find that, over a wide range of experimental variables, the optical depth of the atomic sample serves as an effective single scaling parameter which describes well all the experimental data.