Thick-medium model of transverse pattern formation in optically excited cold two-level atoms with a feedback mirror

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Firth, W.J. and Kresic, I. and Labeyrie, G. and Camara, A and Ackemann, T. (2017) Thick-medium model of transverse pattern formation in optically excited cold two-level atoms with a feedback mirror. Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, 96 (5). 053806. ISSN 1050-2947 (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.96.053806)

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Abstract

We study a pattern-forming instability in a laser-driven optically thick cloud of cold two-level atoms with a planar feedback mirror. We develop a theoretical model, enabling a full analysis of transverse patterns in a medium with saturable nonlinearity, taking into account diffraction within the medium, and both the transmission and reflection gratings. The focus of the analysis is on the combined treatment of nonlinear propagation in a diffractively and optically thick medium and the boundary condition given by feedback. We demonstrate explicitly how diffraction within the medium breaks the degeneracy of Talbot modes inherent in thin-slice models. We predict the existence of envelope curves bounding all possible pattern-formation thresholds and illustrate their interaction with threshold curves by experimental observation of a sudden transition between length scales as mirror displacement is varied.

ORCID iDs

Firth, W.J., Kresic, I. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8349-4605, Labeyrie, G., Camara, A and Ackemann, T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2727-7395;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:62308
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    3 November 2017
    Published
    13 October 2017
    Accepted
    July 2016
    Submitted
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:09 Nov 2017 14:56
    Last modified:20 Dec 2024 01:32
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/62308
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