Strong-field coherent backscattering of light in ultracold atomic Rb-85

摘要

We report experimental observations of polarization-dependent coherence loss occurring in strong-field multiple scattering of light in ultracold atomic Rb-85. A measure of coherence in multiple light scattering is the degree of contrast of the coherent backscattering enhancement from the vapour. For resonance saturation parameters up to 9, we see light-polarization-dependent modi. cation of the backscattering enhancement, suggesting that inelastic atomic light scattering and dynamic atomic magnetization may play important roles in the multiple scattering process for Rb-85.