Light-induced Self-Organization in Cooperative Free Space Atomic Arrays

TL;DR

This paper explores how laser-driven interactions cause atomic arrays to self-organize into various configurations, revealing new ordered structures and size modulations driven by collective light-matter effects.

Contribution

It provides an analytical and numerical study of self-organization in atomic arrays, including topological dimerization and size modulation in free space.

Findings

Linear chains exhibit topologically nontrivial dimerized states.

Ring geometries show self-organized contraction and expansion.

Collective interactions enable ordered structures beyond initial spacing constraints.

Abstract

We investigate how laser-driven, cooperative dipole-dipole interactions in weakly trapped atomic arrays give rise to self-organized configurations. Starting from an analytically tractable two-emitter system, we identify the possible steady-state spatial arrangements accessible to the atoms. We then extend this analysis to larger ensembles in both linear and ring geometries. In linear chains, we demonstrate the emergence of topologically nontrivial dimerized configurations across a range of initial interatomic spacings. In ring geometries, we find that the system undergoes self-organized contraction and expansion, enabling access to length scales below those set by the trapping lattice. Our results demonstrate that collective light-matter interactions in free space can spontaneously generate modified ordered geometries, even when the emitters are initially separated by distances larger than their transition wavelength.