Collective Atom–Light Interactions in Dense Atomic Vapours

✍ Scribed by James Keaveney (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing
• Year: 2014
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 153
• Series: Springer Theses
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The propagation of light in 'dense media' where dipole-dipole interactions play a role is a fundamental topic that was first studied in the work of Clausius, Mossotti, Lorenz and Lorentz in the latter half of the nineteenth century. However, until recently there remained some areas of controversy: for example, whereas the Lorentz model for a gas predicts a resonance shift, a discrete dipole model does not. This thesis makes the first combined measurement of both the Lorentz shift and the associated collective Lamb shift. This clear experimental result stimulated new theoretical work that has significantly advanced our understanding of light propagation in interacting media.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xiii
Introduction....Pages 1-8
Atom–Light Interactions for Independent Atoms....Pages 9-19
Thin Cell Spectroscopy....Pages 21-34
Atom–Surface Interactions....Pages 35-42
Atom–Atom Interactions....Pages 43-71
Giant Refractive Index....Pages 73-84
Fast Light in Dense Thermal Vapour....Pages 85-102
Fluorescence Lifetime....Pages 103-110
Coherent Dynamics....Pages 111-125
Project Outlook....Pages 127-128
Back Matter....Pages 129-144

✦ Subjects

Optics and Electrodynamics; Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics; Optics, Optoelectronics, Plasmonics and Optical Devices