The effect of collectivity on the loading of an atom laser via optical pumping is discussed. In our model, atoms in a beam are laser-excited and subsequently spontaneously decay into a trapping state. We consider the case of sufficiently high particle density in the beam such that the spontaneous emission is modified by the particle interaction. We show that the collective effects lead to a better population of the trapping state over a wide range of system parameters, and that the second-order correlation function of the atoms can be controlled by the applied laser field.

• Received 4 November 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.81.013626