Laser driving of superradiant scattering from a Bose-Einstein condensate at variable incidence angle

Abstract

We study superradiant scattering from a Bose-Einstein condensate using a pump laser incident at variable angle and show the presence of asymmetrically populated scattering modes. Experimental data reveal that the direction of the pump laser plays a significant role in the formation of this asymmetry, a result which is in good agreement with numerical simulations based on coupled Maxwell-Schr\"odinger equations. Our study complements the gap of previous work in which the pump laser was applied only along the short axis or the long axis of a condensate, and extends our knowledge about cooperative scattering processes.