Abstract
The optical properties of randomly positioned, resonant scatterers is a fundamentally difficult problem to address across a wide range of densities and geometries. We investigate it experimentally using a dense cloud of rubidium atoms probed with near-resonant light. The atoms are confined in a slab geometry with a subwavelength thickness. We probe the optical response of the cloud as its density and hence the strength of the light-induced dipole-dipole interactions are increased. We also describe a theoretical study based on a coupled dipole simulation which is further complemented by a perturbative approach. This model reproduces qualitatively the experimental observation of a saturation of the optical depth, a broadening of the transition, and a blueshift of the resonance.
3 More- Received 30 June 2017
- Revised 4 October 2017
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.96.053629
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society