On the absence of the electrostriction force in dilute clouds of cold atoms

Abstract

The momentum of light in a medium and the mechanisms of momentum transfer between light and dielectrics have long been the topic of controversies and confusion. We discuss here the problem of momentum transfers that follow the refraction of light by dilute, inhomogeneous ensembles of ultra-cold atoms. We show experimentally and theoretically that the refraction of light rays by a dilute gas does not entail momentum transfers to first order in the light-atom coupling coefficient, in contradiction with the work reported in Matzliah et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 189902 (2017).