https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/s10051-021-00054-6
Regular Article - Solid State and Materials
Roles of cooperative effects and disorder in photon localization: the case of a vector radiation field
1
Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, LOMA, UMR, 5798, 33405 , Talence, France
2
Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Institut de Physique de Nice, 06560, Valbonne, France
3
Department of Physics, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, 32000, Haifa, Israel
4
Department of Education in Technology and Science, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, 32000, Haifa, Israel
a
louis.bellando.physique@gmail.com
Received:
25
August
2020
Accepted:
15
January
2021
Published online:
8
February
2021
We numerically study photon escape rates from three-dimensional atomic gases and investigate the respective roles of cooperative effects and disorder in photon localization, while taking into account the vectorial nature of light. A scaling behavior is observed for the escape rates, and photons undergo a crossover from delocalization toward localization as the optical thickness of the cloud is increased. This result indicates that light localization is dominated by cooperative effects rather than disorder. We compare our results with those obtained in the case of a scalar radiation field and find no significant differences. We conclude that the scalar model constitutes an excellent approximation when considering photon escape rates from atomic gases.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
