https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2004-00124-1
From superradiant Rayleigh scattering to Bragg scattering
1
INFM and European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS),
via N. Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto F.no (FI), Italy
2
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Firenze, via Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto
F.no (FI), Italy
3
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di
Catania, via S. Sofia 64, 95124 Catania, Italy
Corresponding author: a fsc@lens.unifi.it
Received:
15
July
2004
Published online:
21
September
2004
We present the results of an experiment on light scattering from an elongated Bose-Einstein condensate interacting with far off resonant laser light. Due to superradiant Rayleigh scattering a coherent superposition of two atomic wavepackets with different momenta forms in the presence of a single laser beam. Varying the intensity of a weak counterpropagating laser beam we observe the transition from the pure superradiant regime to the Bragg scattering regime, where Rabi oscillations in a two-level system are observed. The process is limited by the decoherence between the two atomic wavepackets.
PACS: 42.50.Fx – Cooperative phenomena in quantum optical systems / 03.75.Gg – Entanglement and decoherence in Bose-Einstein condensates
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2005
