Resonant light scattering by a slab of ultracold atoms

TL;DR

This paper investigates how ultracold atoms scatter resonant light, using interferometry to measure transmission and reconcile experimental results with theoretical models of coupled dipoles.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of complex transmission through ultracold atomic slabs and explains previous experimental discrepancies with first-principles simulations.

Findings

Good agreement between measurements and coupled dipole simulations.

Identification of causes for earlier experimental discrepancies.

Validation of the resonant scattering model in ultracold atomic gases.

Abstract

A gas of ultracold atoms probed with laser light is a nearly-ideal experimental realization of a medium of resonant point-like scatterers, a key problem from condensed matter to biology or photonics. Yet, several recent experiments have reported large discrepancies with theory. In this work, we measure the complex transmission through a slab of ultracold two-level atoms with an interferometric technique. We find good agreement with first-principles simulations of mutually-coupled, laser-driven dipoles, and provide an explanation for the discrepancies in earlier measurements.