Article abstract
Nature Physics 5, 602 - 605 (2009)
Published online: 31 May 2009 | doi:10.1038/nphys1286
Subject Category: Optical physics
Lévy flights of photons in hot atomic vapours
N. Mercadier1, W. Guerin1, M. Chevrollier2 & R. Kaiser1
Abstract
The properties of random and fluctuating systems are often studied through the use of Gaussian distributions. However, in a number of situations, rare events have drastic consequences, which cannot be explained by Gaussian statistics. Considerable efforts have thus been devoted to the study of non-Gaussian fluctuations such as Lévy statistics, generalizing the standard description of random walks. Unfortunately, only macroscopic signatures, obtained by averaging over many random steps, are usually observed in physical systems. We present experimental results investigating the elementary process of anomalous diffusion of photons in hot atomic vapours. We measure the step-size distribution of the random walk and show that it follows a power-law characteristic of Lévy flights.
- Institut Non Linéaire de Nice, CNRS and Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, 1361 route des Lucioles, 06560 Valbonne, France
- Universidade Federal da Paraiba, Cx. Postal 508, 58051-900 Joao Pessoa-PB, Brazil
Correspondence to: R. Kaiser1 e-mail: Robin.Kaiser@inln.cnrs.fr
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