Cooperative Lamb Shift in an Atomic Vapor Layer of Nanometer Thickness

Keaveney, J.; Sargsyan, A.; Krohn, U.; Hughes, I.G.; Sarkisyan, D.; Adams, C.S.

Abstract

We present an experimental measurement of the cooperative Lamb shift and the Lorentz shift using a nanothickness atomic vapor layer with tunable thickness and atomic density. The cooperative Lamb shift arises due to the exchange of virtual photons between identical atoms. The interference between the forward and backward propagating virtual fields is confirmed by the thickness dependence of the shift, which has a spatial frequency equal to twice that of the optical field. The demonstration of cooperative interactions in an easily scalable system opens the door to a new domain for nonlinear optics.

Citation

Keaveney, J., Sargsyan, A., Krohn, U., Hughes, I., Sarkisyan, D., & Adams, C. (2012). Cooperative Lamb Shift in an Atomic Vapor Layer of Nanometer Thickness. Physical Review Letters, 108(17), Article 173601. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.108.173601

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Apr 23, 2012
• Publication Date: Apr 23, 2012
• Deposit Date: May 21, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 13, 2012
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 108
• Issue: 17
• Article Number: 173601
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.108.173601
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1499211