Light confinement by a cylindrical metallic waveguide in a dense buffer-gas environment
| U. Vogl, A. Saß, F. Vewinger, M. Weitz, A. Solovev, Y. F. Mei, O. G. Schmidt Phys. Rev. A 83, 053403 (2011) URL PDF |
|
| Abstract | |
| We report on the implementation of metallic microtubes in a system of rubidium vapor at 230 bar of argon buffer gas. The high-buffer gas pressure leads to a widely pressure broadened linewidth of several nanometers, interpolating between the sharp atomic physics spectra and the band structure of solid state systems. Tube-like metallic waveguide structures have been inserted in the high-pressure buffer gas system, allowing for guiding light in an optical dense gas over a length in the tube of up to 1 mm. The system holds promise for nonlinear optics experiments and the study of atom-light polariton condensation. |