Date of Award

Spring 2003

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Physics

Committee Director

Mark D. Havey

Committee Member

Desmond Cook

Committee Member

Gilbert Hoy

Committee Member

Rocco Schiavilla

Committee Member

Andrzej Sieradzan

Committee Member

Charles Sukenik

Abstract

This thesis reports on the experimental study of coherent radiative transport in an ultracold gas of 85Rb atoms confined in a magneto-optic trap. Measurements are made of the polarization dependence of the spatial and spectral profile of light backscattered from the sample. The results shows an interferometric enhancement sensitive to coherent multiple scattering in the atomic gas, and strong variations with the polarization of the incident and detected light. Effects due to coherent enhancement of weak non-resonant transitions are also observed. Comparison of the measurements with realistic quantum Monte Carlo simulations of Kupriyanov, et al [1] yield very good agreement.

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DOI

10.25777/nvhm-m443

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