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arXiv · 1907.02993

Near-resonant light scattering by a sub-wavelength ensemble of identical atoms

N. J. Schilder·C. Sauvan·Y. R. P. Sortais·A. Browaeys·J. -J. Greffet
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Abstract

We study theoretically the scattering of light by an ensemble of $N$ resonant atoms in a sub-wavelength volume. We consider the low intensity regime so that each atom responds linearly to the field. While $N$ non-interacting atoms would scatter $N^2$ more than a single atom, we find that $N$ interacting atoms scatter less than a single atom near resonance. In addition, the scattered power presents strong fluctuations, either from one realization to another or when varying the excitation frequency. We analyze this counter-intuitive behavior in terms of collective modes resulting from the light-induced dipole-dipole interactions. We find that for small samples, their properties are governed only by their volume when $N\gtrsim 20$.

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N. J. Schilder, C. Sauvan, Y. R. P. Sortais, A. Browaeys, J. -J. Greffet. 2019-07-05. Near-resonant light scattering by a sub-wavelength ensemble of identical atoms. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.124.073403

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