Collective motion of an atom array under laser illumination

Abstract

We develop a theoretical formalism for the study of light-induced motion of atoms trapped in a two-dimensional (2D) array, considering the effect of multiple scattering of light between the atoms. We find that the atomic motion can be described by a collective diffusion equation, wherein laser-induced dipole-dipole forces couple the motion of different atoms. This coupling leads to the formation of collective mechanical modes of the array atoms, whose spatial structure and stability depend on the parameters of the illuminating laser and the geometry of the 2D array. We demonstrate the application of our formalism for the analysis of light-induced heating of the 2D array. The presented approach should be useful for treating the optomechanical properties of recently proposed quantum optical platforms made of atomic arrays.