Lévy flights of photons in hot atomic vapours

Abstract

The properties of random and fluctuating systems are often studied through the use of Gaussian distributions. However, in a number of situations, rare events have drastic consequences, which cannot be explained by Gaussian statistics. Considerable efforts have thus been devoted to the study of non-Gaussian fluctuations such as Lévy statistics, generalizing the standard description of random walks. Unfortunately, only macroscopic signatures, obtained by averaging over many random steps, are usually observed in physical systems. We present experimental results investigating the elementary process of anomalous diffusion of photons in hot atomic vapours. We measure the step-size distribution of the random walk and show that it follows a power-law characteristic of Lévy flights. Lévy flights, a form of random walk, are quite common in nature. However only macroscopic signatures, obtained by averaging over many steps, have been measured so far. Now, the individual steps are observed directly as light scatters in a hot atomic vapour.

Cite this article

Mercadier, N., Guerin, W., Chevrollier, M. et al. Lévy flights of photons in hot atomic vapours. Nature Phys 5, 602–605 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1286

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