Exact electrodynamics versus standard optics for a slab of cold dense gas

Abstract

We study light propagation through a slab of cold gas using both the standard electrodynamics of polarizable media, and massive atom-by-atom simulations of the electrodynamics. The main finding is that the predictions from the two methods may differ qualitatively when the density of the atomic sample $\rho$ and the wavenumber of resonant light $k$ satisfy $\rho k^{-3}\gtrsim 1$. The reason is that the standard electrodynamics is a mean-field theory, whereas for sufficiently strong light-mediated dipole-dipole interactions the atomic sample becomes correlated. The deviations from mean-field theory appear to scale with the parameter $\rho k^{-3}$, and we demonstrate noticeable effects already at $\rho k^{-3}\simeq 10^{-2}$. In dilute gases and in gases with an added inhomogeneous broadening the simulations show shifts of the resonance lines in qualitative agreement with the predicted Lorentz-Lorenz shift and "cooperative Lamb shift", but the quantitative agreement is unsatisfactory. Our interpretation is that the microscopic basis for the local-field corrections in electrodynamics is not fully understood.

References in corpus (6)

• Cooperative resonances in light scattering from two-dimensional atomic arrays
• Storing light with subradiant correlations in arrays of atoms
• Cooperativity in light scattering by cold atoms
• Cooperative eigenmodes and scattering in 1D atomic arrays
• Theoretical formalism for collective electromagnetic response of discrete metamaterial systems
• Resonance linewidth and inhomogeneous broadening in a metamaterial array

Cited by in corpus (30)

• Perspective: Quantum Hamiltonians for Optical Interactions
• The Collective Lamb Shift of a Nanoscale Atomic Vapour Layer within a Sapphire Cavity
• A superatom picture of collective nonclassical light emission and dipole blockade in atom arrays
• Transmission of near-resonant light through a dense slab of cold atoms
• Beyond lowest order mean field theory for light interacting with atom arrays
• Role of disorder in super- and subradiance of cold atomic clouds
• Cooperative quantum-optical planar arrays of atoms
• Collective effects in Casimir-Polder forces
• Optical Magnetism and Huygens' Surfaces in Arrays of Atoms Induced by Cooperative Responses
• Signatures of optical phase transitions in super- and subradiant arrays of atoms
• Light propagation in systems involving two-dimensional atomic lattices
• The dependent scattering effect on radiative properties of micro/nanoscale discrete disordered media
• Bistable optical transmission through arrays of atoms in free space
• Nonlinear quantum transport of light in a cold atomic cloud
• Unidirectional absorption, storage, and emission of single photons in a collectively responding bilayer atomic array
• Near-resonant light transmission in two-dimensional dense cold atomic media with short-range positional correlations
• Collective effects in the photon statistics of thermal atomic ensembles
• Radiative toroidal dipole and anapole excitations in collectively responding arrays of atoms
• Sensitivity of electromagnetically induced transparency to light-mediated interactions
• Spontaneous symmetry breaking in frustrated triangular atom arrays due to cooperative light scattering
• Collective dipole-dipole interactions in planar nanocavities
• Waveguide QED with Moessbauer Nuclei
• Photon scattering from a cold, Gaussian atom cloud
• Transport of light through a dense ensemble of cold atoms in a static electric field
• Emergence of an Epsilon-Near-Zero Medium from Microscopic Atomic Principles
• Resonant light scattering by a slab of ultracold atoms
• Superradiance and anomalous hyperfine splitting in inhomogeneous ensembles
• Propagation of light in cold emitter ensembles with quantum position correlations due to static long-range dipolar interactions
• Nanosecond-timescale development of Faraday rotation in an ultracold gas
• Identification of Poincare-gauge and multipolar nonrelativistic theories of QED