7 papers
Microscopic characterization of Lévy flights of light in atomic vapors
Nicolas Mercadier, Martine Chevrollier, William Guerin +1
We investigate multiple scattering of near-resonant light in a Doppler-broadened atomic vapor. We experimentally characterize the length distribution of the steps between successiv…
A cold-atom random laser
Quentin Baudouin, Nicolas Mercadier, Vera Guarrera +2
Conventional lasers make use of optical cavities to provide feedback to gain media. Conversely, mirrorless lasers can be built by using disordered structures to induce multiple sca…
Steady-state signatures of radiation trapping by cold multilevel atoms
Quentin Baudouin, Nicolas Mercadier, Robin Kaiser
In this paper, we use steady-state measurements to obtain evidence of radiation trapping in an optically thick a cloud of cold rubidium atoms. We investigate the fluorescence prope…
Anomalous photon diffusion in atomic vapors
Martine Chevrollier, Nicolas Mercadier, William Guerin +1
The multiple scattering of photons in a hot, resonant, atomic vapor is investigated and shown to exhibit a Lévy Flight-like behavior. Monte Carlo simulations give insights into the…
Towards a random laser with cold atoms
William Guerin, Nicolas Mercadier, Franck Michaud +7
Atoms can scatter light and they can also amplify it by stimulated emission. From this simple starting point, we examine the possibility of realizing a random laser in a cloud of l…
Lévy flights of photons in hot atomic vapours
Nicolas Mercadier, William Guerin, Martine Chevrollier +1
Properties of random and fluctuating systems are often studied through the use of Gaussian distributions. However, in a number of situations, rare events have drastic consequences,…