  Cooperative scattering of light by an extended object such as an atomic
ensemble or a dielectric sphere is fundamentally different from scattering from
many point-like scatterers such as single atoms. Homogeneous distributions tend
to scatter cooperatively, whereas fluctuations of the density distribution
increase the disorder and suppress cooperativity. In an atomic cloud, the
amount of disorder can be tuned via the optical thickness, and its role can be
studied via the radiation force exerted by the light on the atomic cloud.
Monitoring cold $^{87}\text{Rb}$ atoms released from a magneto-optical trap, we
present the first experimental signatures of radiation force reduction due to
cooperative scattering. The results are in agreement with an analytical
expression interpolating between the disorder and the cooperativity-dominated
regimes.
