Multiple Self-Organized Phases and Spatial Solitons in Cold Atoms Mediated by Optical Feedback
Giuseppe Baio, G. R. M. Robb, Alison M. Yao, Gian‐Luca Oppo, T. Ackemann
Abstract
We study the transverse self-structuring of cold atomic clouds with effective atomic interactions mediated by a coherent driving beam retroreflected by means of a single mirror. The resulting self-structuring due to optomechanical forces is much richer than that of an effective-Kerr medium, displaying hexagonal, stripe and honeycomb phases depending on the interaction strength parametrized by the linear susceptibility. Phase domains are described by Ginzburg-Landau amplitude equations with real coefficients. In the stripe phase the system recovers inversion symmetry. Moreover, the subcritical character of the honeycomb phase allows for light-density feedback solitons functioning as self-sustained dark atomic traps with motion controlled by phase gradients in the driving beam.