Stimulated Enhancement of Cross-Section by a Bose-Einstein Condensate

Abstract

This paper examines the feasibility of constructing an experiment which detects the atomic stimulation of a photon emission process. A beam of atoms (bosons) in an excited state is passed over an atomic trap which traps the atoms when they are in their internal ground state. When the trap contains a Bose-Einstein condensate, the cross-section for absorption of the atomic beam is increased. We examine a particular model in which this atom-stimulation is observable, and is also characterised by the emission of photons in a narrow cone in the direction of the atomic beam.