Journal
PHYSICAL REVIEW A
Volume 104, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.104.013515
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program [820392]
- Region Ile-de-France of DIM SIRTEQ
- European Union by Fond Europeen de developpement regional (FEDER)
- French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) [ANR-19-CE46-0007]
- Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The study reveals a double shock-collapse instability in a two-dimensional paraxial fluid of light when using a near-resonant laser propagating through hot atomic vapor. This instability is found to result from the combined effect of nonlocal photon-photon interaction and linear photon losses, with dissipation unexpectedly enhancing the collapse instability. Adjustment of atomic vapor temperature controls the nonlocality range of the interaction, which increases significantly with higher atomic density.
We study the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of a two-dimensional paraxial fluid of light using a near-resonant laser propagating through a hot atomic vapor. We observe a double shock-collapse instability: a shock (gradient catastrophe) for the velocity as well as an annular (ring-shaped) collapse singularity for the density. We find experimental evidence that this instability results from the combined effect of the nonlocal photon-photon interaction and the linear photon losses. The theoretical analysis based on the method of characteristics reveals the main result that dissipation (photon losses) is responsible for an unexpected enhancement of the collapse instability. Detailed analytical modeling makes it possible to evaluate the nonlocality range of the interaction. The nonlocality is controlled by adjusting the atomic vapor temperature and is seen to increase dramatically when the atomic density becomes much larger than one atom per cubic wavelength. Interestingly, such a large range of the nonlocal photon-photon interaction is observed in an atomic vapor here, but its microscopic origin is currently unknown.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available