Theory Seminar: Collective optical effects on arrays of atoms. Introducing the motional degree of freedom.

David Castells, MPQ Theory Group
Theory Seminar at Herbert-Walther lecture hall and Zoom
Friday, December 09th, 2022 at 11:30am (MEZ)

Abstract:
In this talk, I will start by explaining the topic of collective response to light of atomic arrays. Starting from the case of a single atom, I will motivate the use of atomic arrays with subwavelength interatomic spacing and discuss their main features, such as subradiance and superradiance. In particular, we will see how collective scattering of light can make a two-dimensional atomic lattice behave as an efficient mirror, and how this has been demonstrated in an experiment using atoms in an optical lattice. I will, then, introduce atomic motion as a potential limiting factor for applications of these systems, and describe our current work attempting to model and understand the effect of motion.