Light scattering from an atomic gas under conditions of quantum degeneracy

We consider a quantum theory of elastic light scattering from a macroscopic atomic sample existing in the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) phase. The dynamics of the optical excitation induced by an incident photon is influenced by the presence of incoherent scattering channels. For a sample of suffic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Porozova, V M, Gerasimov, L V, Havey, M D, Kupriyanov, D V
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 13.12.2017
Subjects
Elastic scattering
Excitation
Green's functions
Incoherent scattering
Light scattering
Physics - Atomic Physics
Physics - Optics
Physics - Quantum Gases
Physics - Quantum Physics
Polaritons
Quantum theory
Wave propagation
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Summary:We consider a quantum theory of elastic light scattering from a macroscopic atomic sample existing in the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) phase. The dynamics of the optical excitation induced by an incident photon is influenced by the presence of incoherent scattering channels. For a sample of sufficient length the excitation transports as a polariton wave and the propagation Green's function obeys the scattering equation which we derive. The polariton dynamics could be tracked in the outgoing channel of the scattered photon as we show via numerical solution of the scattering equation for one-dimensional geometry. The results are analyzed and compared with predictions of the conventional macroscopic Maxwell theory for light scattering from a non-degenerate atomic sample of the same density and size.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1712.04592