arXiv · 2608.20527
Photon-mediated thermodynamics and density fluctuations in an ensemble of laser-cooled Cesium atoms
Abstract
We present an experimental study of detuning-dependent properties of a laser-cooled cesium cloud in a magneto-optical trap. Fluorescence images are used to extract the cloud size, shot-to-shot width fluctuations, optical depth, density profiles, and spatial density fluctuation spectra as the trapping-laser detuning is varied. Near resonance, the cloud exhibits larger spatial extent, increased width fluctuations, higher optical depth, and enhanced density-fluctuation power, while larger detunings produce a more reproducible and spatially confined cloud. The measured density profiles are analysed phenomenologically using a generalized Lane-Emden model with a polytropic equation of state, yielding detuning-dependent effective fit parameters in a weak-interaction regime. Power-spectrum and autocorrelation analyses reveal reproducible scale-dependent density correlations. The results provide a quantitative characterization of detuning-dependent radiative and collective effects in a cesium MOT and establish a basis for future measurements that can more directly test nonequilibrium transport and photon-mediated interaction models.
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Arnab Ghosh, Inderpreet Kaur, Hemant Yadav, Shiva Kant Dwivedi, R Shanmukesh, Mithun Thudiyangal, Matthew J. Davis, Bodhaditya Santra. 2026-08-20. Photon-mediated thermodynamics and density fluctuations in an ensemble of laser-cooled Cesium atoms. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.20527
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