Nonequilibrium Steady State in a Large Magneto-Optical Trap

Considering light-mediated long-range interactions between cold atoms in a magnetooptical trap (MOT), we present numerical evidence of a nonequilibrium steady state (NESS) for sufficiently large number of atoms (>10(8)). This state manifests itself as the appearance of an anisotropic distribution of velocity when a MOT approaches the threshold beyond which self-oscillating instabilities occur. Our three-dimensional (3D) spatiotemporal model with nonlocal spatial dependencies stemming from the interatomic interactions has recently been compared successfully to predict different instability thresholds and regimes in experiments with rubidium atoms. The behavior of the NESS is studied as a function of the main MOT parameters, including its spatiotemporal characteristics.

Automated summary

This study investigates the long-range interactions between cold atoms in a magnetooptical trap and identifies a nonequilibrium steady state for a large number of atoms. The researchers successfully predicted different instability thresholds and regimes using a 3D spatiotemporal model with nonlocal spatial dependencies.