We investigate the different photon emission regimes created by a pre-excited and collimated atomic beam passing through a single mode of an optical cavity. In the regime where the cavity degrees of freedom can be adiabatically eliminated, we find that the atoms undergo superradiant emission when the collective linewidth exceeds the transit-time broadening. We analyze the case where the atomic beam direction is slanted with respect to the cavity axis. For this situation, we find that a phase of continuous light emission similar to steady-state superradiance is established providing the tilt of the atomic beam is sufficiently small. However, if the atoms travel more than half a wavelength along the cavity axis during one transit time we predict a dynamical phase transition to a bistable superradiant regime. In this phase the atoms undergo collective spontaneous emission with a frequency that can be either blue or red detuned from the free-space atomic resonance. We analyze the different superradiant regimes and the quantum critical crossover boundaries. In particular we find the spectrum of the emitted light and show that the linewidth exhibits features of a critical scaling close to the phase boundaries.
#2Simon B. Jäger(NIST: National Institute of Standards and Technology)H-Index: 8
Last. Travis Nicholson(NUS: National University of Singapore)H-Index: 10
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We propose a new type of superradiant laser based on a hot atomic beam traversing an optical cavity. We show that the theoretical minimum linewidth and maximum power are competitive with the best ultracoherent clock lasers. Also, our system operates naturally in continuous wave mode, which has been elusive for superradiant lasers so far. Unlike existing ultracoherent lasers, our design is simple and rugged. This makes it a candidate for the first widely accessible ultracoherent laser, as well as...
#1Juan A. Muniz(CU: University of Colorado Boulder)H-Index: 7
#2Diego Barberena(CU: University of Colorado Boulder)H-Index: 4
Last. James K. Thompson(CU: University of Colorado Boulder)H-Index: 27
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Interactions between atoms and light in optical cavities provide a means of investigating collective (many-body) quantum physics in controlled environments. Such ensembles of atoms in cavities have been proposed for studying collective quantum spin models, where the atomic internal levels mimic a spin degree of freedom and interact through long-range interactions tunable by changing the cavity parameters1–4. Non-classical steady-state phases arising from the interplay between atom–light interact...
A clock at a higher altitude ticks faster than one at a lower altitude, in accordance with Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The outstanding stability and accuracy of optical clocks, at 10−18 levels1–5, allows height differences6 of a centimetre to be measured. However, such state-of-the-art clocks have been demonstrated only in well-conditioned laboratories. Here, we demonstrate an 18-digit-precision frequency comparison in a broadcasting tower, Tokyo Skytree, by developing transportable...
We theoretically analyze superradiant emission of light from a cold atomic gas, when mechanical effects of photon-atom interactions are considered. The atoms are confined within a standing-wave resonator and an atomic metastable dipolar transition couples to a cavity mode. The atomic dipole is incoherently pumped in the parameter regime that would correspond to stationary superradiance in absence of inhomogeneous broadening. Starting from the master equation for cavity field and atomic degrees o...
Highly stable laser sources based on narrow atomic transitions provide a promising platform for direct generation of stable and accurate optical frequencies. Here we investigate a simple system operating in the high-temperature regime of cold atoms. The interaction between a thermal ensemble of ^{88}r at mK temperatures and a medium-finesse cavity produces strong collective coupling and facilitates high atomic coherence which causes lasing on the dipole forbidden ^1_0 \leftrightarrow ^3...
Dissipative and unitary processes define the evolution of a many-body system. Their interplay gives rise to dynamical phase transitions and can lead to instabilities. In this study, we observe a nonstationary state of chiral nature in a synthetic many-body system with independently controllable unitary and dissipative couplings. Our experiment is based on a spinor Bose gas interacting with an optical resonator. Orthogonal quadratures of the resonator field coherently couple the Bose-Einstein con...
A continuous guided atomic beam of 88Sr with a phase-space density exceeding 10-4 in the moving frame and a flux of 3×107 at. s-1 is demonstrated. This phase-space density is around 3 orders of magnitude higher than previously reported for steady-state atomic beams. We detail the architecture necessary to produce this ultracold-atom source and characterize its output after propagation for approximately 4cm. With radial temperatures of less than 1μK and a velocity of 8.4cm s-1, this source is ide...
#1Athreya Shankar(CU: University of Colorado Boulder)H-Index: 7
#2Leonardo Salvi(UniFI: University of Florence)H-Index: 9
Last. Murray Holland(CU: University of Colorado Boulder)H-Index: 46
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Bragg interferometers, operating using pseudospin-1/2 systems composed of two momentum states, have become a mature technology for precision measurements. State-of-the-art Bragg interferometers are rapidly surpassing technical limitations and are soon expected to operate near the projection noise limit set by uncorrelated atoms. Despite the use of large numbers of atoms, their operation is governed by single-atom physics. Motivated by recent proposals and demonstrations of Raman gravimeters in c...
: Cold samples of calcium atoms are prepared in the metastable ^{3}P_{1} state inside an optical cavity resonant with the narrow band (375 Hz) ^{1}S_{0}→^{3}P_{1} intercombination line at 657 nm. We observe a superradiant emission of hyperbolic secant shaped pulses into the cavity with an intensity proportional to the square of the atom number, a duration much shorter than the natural lifetime of the ^{3}P_{1} state, and a delay time fluctuating from shot to shot in excellent agreement with theo...
: We theoretically analyze superradiant emission of light from an ultracold gas of bosonic atoms confined in a bad cavity. A metastable dipolar transition of the atoms couples to the cavity field and is incoherently pumped, and the mechanical effects of cavity-atom interactions tend to order the atoms in the periodic cavity potential. By means of a mean-field model we determine the conditions on the cavity parameters and pump rate that lead to the buildup of a stable macroscopic dipole emitting ...
Collective effects in the interaction of light with ensembles of identical scatterers play an important role in many fields of physics. However, often the term ``identical'' is not accurate due to the presence of hyperfine fields which induce inhomogeneous transition shifts and splittings. Here we develop a formalism based on the Green function method to model the linear response of such inhomogeneous ensembles in one-dimensional waveguides. We obtain a compact formula for the collective spectru...
We study the collective emission of a beam of atomic dipoles into an optical cavity. Our focus lies on the effect of a finite detuning between the atomic transition frequency and the cavity resonance frequency. By developing a theoretical description of the coupled atom-cavity dynamics we analyze the stationary atomic configurations including a superradiant phase where the atoms undergo continuous monochromatic collective emission. In addition, we derive an analytical formula for the cavity pull...
We theoretically analyze the collective dynamics of a thermal beam of atomic dipoles that couple to a single mode when traversing an optical cavity. For this setup we derive a semiclassical model and determine the onset of superradiant emission and its stability. We derive analytical expressions for the linewidth of the emitted light and compare them with numerical simulations. In addition, we find and predict two different superradiant phases; a steady-state superradiant phase and a multi-compo...
