Spin-selective coherent light scattering from ion crystals

We study collective light scattering from linear crystals with up to twelve ^40Ca^+ ions, acting as coherent single photon emitters. Light-scattering is induced by two-photon laser excitation, starting from the S_1/2 to D_5/2 quadrupole transition at 729 nm in combination with laser excitation of the D_5/2 to P_3/2 dipole transition at 854 nm, followed by a decay back to S_1/2 via a single photon emission near 393 nm. The scattered intensity is recorded in the far field, featuring the interference of emitted light fields of the entire crystal. Furthermore, we demonstrate spin-dependent coherent scattering and unveil the time evolution of a previously encoded spin texture in a crystal employing the recorded dynamics of the spatial frequency components of the fringe pattern.