Kerker Effect, Superscattering, and Scattering Dark State in Atomic Antennas

TL;DR

This paper investigates scattering phenomena in atomic antennas with electric dipole transitions, revealing how geometry and light direction influence scattering, enabling the design of directional emitters and nonradiating sources.

Contribution

It demonstrates that atomic antennas with only electric dipole transitions can exhibit Kerker effect, superscattering, and dark states, expanding the understanding of scattering control at the atomic level.

Findings

Atomic antennas can have arbitrarily large or small scattering cross sections.

Atoms can exhibit directional radiation with zero backscattering.

The study opens pathways for designing highly directional and nonradiating atomic sources.

Abstract

We study scattering phenomena such as the Kerker effect, superscattering, and scattering dark states in a subwavelength atomic antenna consisting of atoms with only electric dipole transitions. We show that an atomic antenna can exhibit arbitrarily large or small scattering cross sections depending on the geometry of the structure and the direction of the impinging light. We also demonstrate that atoms with only an electric dipole transition can exhibit a directional radiation pattern with zero backscattering when placed in a certain configuration. This is a special case of a phenomenon known as the Kerker effect, which typically occurs in the presence of both electric and magnetic transitions. Our findings open a pathway to design highly directional emitters, nonradiating sources, and highly scattering objects based on individually controlled atoms.