Optical signatures of a tightly confined Bose condensate

Optical properties of a Bose condensate of Nc 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 Nc; the linewidth of the resonance is Nc/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.