Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 223904 (2003) [4 pages]Slow Diffusion of Light in a Cold Atomic CloudReceived 19 May 2003; published 26 November 2003 We study the diffusive propagation of multiply scattered light in an optically thick cloud of cold rubidium atoms illuminated by a quasiresonant laser beam. In the vicinity of a sharp atomic resonance, the energy transport velocity of the scattered light is almost 5 orders of magnitude smaller than the vacuum speed of light, reducing strongly the diffusion constant. We verify the theoretical prediction of a frequency-independent transport time around the resonance. We also observe the effect of the residual velocity of the atoms at long times. © 2003 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.223904
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.223904
PACS:
42.25.Dd, 32.80.Pj
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