Multiple scattering of photons by atomic hyperfine multiplets
- Physikalisches Institut, Universitaet Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth (Germany)
- Institut Non Lineaire de Nice Sophia Antipolis, UMR 6618 du CNRS, 1361 route des Lucioles, F-06560 Valbonne (France)
- Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, F-75005 Paris (France)
Mesoscopic interference effects in multiple scattering of photons depend crucially on the internal structure of the scatterers. In the present paper, we develop the analytical theory of multiple photon scattering by cold atoms with arbitrary internal hyperfine multiplets. For a specific application, we calculate the enhancement factor of elastic coherent backscattering as a function of detuning from an entire hyperfine multiplet of neighboring resonances that cannot be considered isolated. Our theory permits one to understand why atoms behave differently from classical Rayleigh point-dipole scatterers, and how the classical description is recovered for larger but still microscopic objects like molecules or clusters.
- OSTI ID:
- 20786534
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. A, Vol. 72, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.72.053405; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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