title: Shape-preserving diffusion of a high-order mode.
abstract: The close relation between the processes of paraxial diffraction and coherent diffusion is reflected in the similarity between their shape-preserving solutions, notably the Gaussian modes. Differences between these solutions enter only for high-order modes. Here we experimentally study the behavior of shape-preserving high-order modes of coherent diffusion, known as "elegant" modes, and contrast them with the nonshape-preserving evolution of the corresponding "standard" modes of optical diffraction. Diffusion of the light field is obtained by mapping it onto the atomic coherence field of a diffusing vapor in a storage-of-light setup. The growth of the elegant mode fits well the theoretical expectations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel. dimitryy@tx.technion.ac.il
authors.forename: Dimitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yankelev
authors.forename: Ofer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Firstenberg
authors.forename: Moshe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shuker
authors.forename: Nir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Davidson