Coherent backscattering of light by two atoms in the saturated regime

Journal Article · Sun Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2004 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.70.023817· OSTI ID:20645957

Wellens, T ^[1]; Gremaud, B; Delande, D ^[2]; Miniatura, C ^[1]

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1. Institut Non Lineaire de Nice, 1361 route des Lucioles, F-06560 Valbonne (France)
2. Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, F-75005 Paris (France)

We present a calculation of coherent backscattering with inelastic scattering by saturated atoms. We consider the scattering of a quasimonochromatic laser pulse by two distant atoms in free space. By restricting ourselves to scattering of two photons, we employ a perturbative approach, valid up to second order in the incident laser intensity. The backscattering enhancement factor is found to be smaller than two (after excluding single scattering), indicating a loss of coherence between the doubly scattered light emitted by both atoms. Since the undetected photon carries information about the path of the detected photon, the coherence loss can be explained by a which-path argument, in analogy with a double-slit experiment.

• OSTI ID: 20645957
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 70; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOMS
BACKSCATTERING
EMISSION
INELASTIC SCATTERING
INFORMATION
LASER RADIATION
PERTURBATION THEORY
PHOTON-ATOM COLLISIONS
PHOTONS
PULSES
VISIBLE RADIATION