OPTICAL SIGNATURES OF A TIGHTLY CONFINED BOSE CONDENSATE

Optical properties of a Bose condensate of N(c) atoms tightly confined to a harmonic oscillator potential are studied. A resonantly illuminated condensate scatters as much light as x independent atoms, where x depends on the size of the condensate and on the wavelength of light but not on N(c); the linewidth of the resonance is N(c)/x times larger than the linewidth of an individual constituent atom. If the condensate is bigger than a wavelength, light is predominantly scattered in the forward direction.