We study the temporal dynamics of light interacting with a one-dimensional lattice of cold atoms. In such a system, a photonic band gap opens up, yielding an efficient Bragg reflection for an incident field incoming with the right angle and detuning. Here, we report two new effects appearing in the Bragg reflection. First, for some detunings, there is a “flash,” i.e., a transient increase of the reflected intensity when the incident field is switched off. Second, the subsequent extinction of the reflected field is clearly superradiant, with decay rates up to eight times the natural decay rate of the atomic excited state. Numerical simulations are in qualitative agreement with the observations, which can be explained by a classical photonic model. Our results are a step towards exploiting this photonic band gap in atomic systems for quantum-optical applications.

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• Collective effects in atomic physics
• Optical transient phenomena
• Superradiance & subradiance
• Atomic gases
• Bragg structures
• Random & disordered media
• Optical lattices & traps