Electromagnetically induced transparency and four-wave mixing in a cold atomic ensemble with large optical depth

We report on the delay of optical pulses using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in an ensemble of cold atoms with an optical depth exceeding 500. To identify the regimes in which four-wave mixing (4WM) impacts on EIT behaviour, we conduct the experiment in both 85Rb and 87Rb. Compariso...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:New journal of physics 2014-11, Vol.16 (11), p.113053
Main Authors: Geng, J, Campbell, G T, Bernu, J, Higginbottom, D B, Sparkes, B M, Assad, S M, Zhang, W P, Robins, N P, Lam, P K, Buchler, B C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cold atoms
Delay
electromagnetically induced transparency
Four-wave mixing
Optical pulses
Optical thickness
Physics
Pulse duration
slow-light
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Summary:We report on the delay of optical pulses using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in an ensemble of cold atoms with an optical depth exceeding 500. To identify the regimes in which four-wave mixing (4WM) impacts on EIT behaviour, we conduct the experiment in both 85Rb and 87Rb. Comparison with theory shows excellent agreement in both isotopes. In 87Rb negligible 4WM was observed and we obtained one pulse-width of delay with 50% efficiency. In 85Rb 4WM contributes to the output. In this regime we achieve a delay-bandwidth product of 3.7 at 50% efficiency, allowing temporally multimode delay, which we demonstrate by compressing two pulses into the memory medium.
ISSN:1367-2630
1367-2630
DOI:10.1088/1367-2630/16/11/113053