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Optical Transmission of an Atomic Vapor in the Mesoscopic Regime

Peyrot, T.; Sortais, Y. R. P.; Greffet, J.-J.; Browaeys, A.; Sargsyan, A.; Keaveney, J.; Hughes, I. G.; Adams, C. S.

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Authors

T. Peyrot

Y. R. P. Sortais

J.-J. Greffet

A. Browaeys

A. Sargsyan

J. Keaveney



Abstract

By measuring the transmission of near-resonant light through an atomic vapor confined in a nanocell we demonstrate a mesoscopic optical response arising from the nonlocality induced by the motion of atoms with a phase coherence length larger than the cell thickness. Whereas conventional dispersion theory—where the local atomic response is simply convolved by the Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution—is unable to reproduce the measured spectra, a model including a nonlocal, size-dependent susceptibility is found to be in excellent agreement with the measurements. This result improves our understanding of light-matter interaction in the mesoscopic regime and has implications for applications where mesoscopic effects may degrade or enhance the performance of miniaturized atomic sensors.

Citation

Peyrot, T., Sortais, Y., Greffet, J., Browaeys, A., Sargsyan, A., Keaveney, J., …Adams, C. (2019). Optical Transmission of an Atomic Vapor in the Mesoscopic Regime. Physical Review Letters, 122(11), Article 113401. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.122.113401

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 8, 2019
Online Publication Date Mar 20, 2019
Publication Date Mar 20, 2019
Deposit Date Mar 21, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Physical Review Letters
Print ISSN 0031-9007
Electronic ISSN 1079-7114
Publisher American Physical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 122
Issue 11
Article Number 113401
DOI https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.122.113401
Related Public URLs https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.08852

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Copyright Statement
Reprinted with permission from the American Physical Society: Peyrot, T., Sortais, Y. R. P., Greffet, J.-J., Browaeys, A., Sargsyan, A., Keaveney, J., Hughes, I. G. & Adams, C. S. (2019). Optical Transmission of an Atomic Vapor in the Mesoscopic Regime. Physical Review Letters 122(11): 113401 © 2019 by the American Physical Society. Readers may view, browse, and/or download material for temporary copying purposes only, provided these uses are for noncommercial personal purposes. Except as provided by law, this material may not be further reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, adapted, performed, displayed, published, or sold in whole or part, without prior written permission from the American Physical Society.





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