Magnetic-field-driven localization of light in a cold-atom gas

Abstract

We discover a transition from extended to localized quasi-modes for light in a gas of immobile two-level atoms in a magnetic field. The transition takes place either upon increasing the number density of atoms in a strong field or upon increasing the field at a high enough density. It has many characteristic features of a disorder-driven (Anderson) transition but is strongly influenced by near-field interactions between atoms and the anisotropy of the atomic medium induced by the magnetic field.

5+8 pages, 4+8 figures, supplemental material added

References in corpus (7)

• Anderson Transitions
• Localization of ultrasound in a three-dimensional elastic network
• Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics with Anderson-localized Modes
• Photon localization and Dicke superradiance in atomic gases
• Eigenvalue distributions of large Euclidean random matrices for waves in random media
• Magnetic field induced localization in 2D topological insulators
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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Diffusing-Wave Spectroscopy of Cold Atoms in Ballistic Motion
• Van der Waals dephasing for Dicke subradiance in cold atomic clouds
• Topological transitions and Anderson localization of light in disordered atomic arrays
• Search for Anderson localization of light by cold atoms in a static electric field
• Imaginary gap-closed points and dynamics in a class of dissipative systems
• Aperiodic photonics of elliptic curves
• Super- and subradiance in dilute disordered cold atomic samples: observations and interpretations
• Transport of light through a dense ensemble of cold atoms in a static electric field
• Enhanced wave localization in multifractal scattering media
• On the correlation of light polarization in uncorrelated disordered magnetic media
• Breaking of reciprocity and the Pancharatnam-Berry phase for light scattered by a disordered cold atom cloud