Photon bubble turbulence in cold atom gases

Ruggero Giampaoli

Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal -

Photon bubble turbulence is considered a key mechanism behind enhanced radiation transport in a variety of high energy objects such as accretion disks and massive stars. Analogous conditions – randomised photon propagation, strong radiation-pressure forces – exist in optically thick clouds of cold atoms. By accessing the spatially-resolved cold atom density, we are able to identify a photon bubble instability and the resulting regime of photon bubble turbulence.

Related paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23493-2