title: Self-organization threshold scaling for thermal atoms coupled to a cavity.
abstract: We make a detailed experimental study of the threshold for the self-organization of thermal 87Rb atoms coupled to a high-finesse cavity over a range of atom numbers and cavity detunings. We investigate the difference between probing with a traveling wave and a retroreflected lattice. These two scenarios lead to qualitatively different behavior in terms of the response of the system as a function of cavity detuning with respect to the probe. In both cases, we confirm a N(-1) scaling of the threshold with atom number.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Quantum Technologies and Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Baden
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Barrett