title: Collective atomic recoil lasing with a partially coherent pump.
abstract: We investigate the effect of pump phase noise on the collective backscattering of light by a cold, collisionless atomic gas. We show that for a partially coherent pump field, the growth rate of the backscattered field is reduced relative to that for a coherent pump, but the backscattered intensity can be increased. Our results demonstrate that fluctuations and noise can play a counterintuitive role in nonlocally coupled many-body systems.
authors.affiliation: Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA), Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, 107 Rottenrow, Glasgow G4 0NG, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: G R M
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Robb
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Firth