COHERENT TRANSPORT OF LIGHT IN COLD ATOMS

Abstract

We present an overview of the investigations on the transport of near-resonant light in laser-cooled atomic vapors, a field that emerged during the past decade. We first discuss time-resolved measurements yielding some informations on the nature of this transport, which is quasi-diffusive for low temperatures and limited optical thicknesses. We then focus on the coherence of the transport, which is probed using the coherent backscattering interference. We identify and analyze in detail several mechanisms limiting the coherence length in such media.