Science Daily  August 1, 2022 An international team of researchers (Austria, Germany) has observed a mechanical deformation of a cloud of ultracold 87Rb atoms due to the collective interplay of the atoms and a homogenous light field. This collective light scattering resulted in a self-confining potential with interesting features: It exhibited nonlocal properties, attractive for both red- and blue-detuned light fields and induced a remarkably strong force that depends on the gradient of the atomic density. In the article they discuss their experimental observations framework of a theoretical model based on a local-field approach for the light scattered by the […]