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arXiv:0707.3707 · Physical Review Letters

Storing Images in Warm Atomic Vapor

M. Shuker, Ofer Firstenberg, Rami Pugatch, A. Ron, Nir Davidson

Published Jun 5, 2008• 162 citations
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Abstract

Reversible and coherent storage of light in an atomic medium is a promising method with possible applications in many fields. In this work, arbitrary two-dimensional images are slowed and stored in warm atomic vapor for up to 30 micros, utilizing electromagnetically induced transparency. Both the intensity and the phase patterns of the optical field are maintained. The main limitation on the storage resolution and duration is found to be the diffusion of atoms. A technique analogous to phase-shift lithography is employed to diminish the effect of diffusion on the visibility of the reconstructed image.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.100.223601

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Reversible and coherent storage of light in an atomic medium is a promising method with possible applications in many fields. In this work, arbitrary two-dimensional images are slowed and stored in warm atomic vapor for up to 30 micros, utilizing electromagnetically induced transparency. Both the intensity and the phase patterns of the optical field are maintained. The main limitation on the storage resolution and duration is found to be the diffusion of atoms. A technique analogous to phase-shift lithography is employed to diminish the effect of diffusion on the visibility of the reconstructed image.
The recent prospect of efficient, reliable, and secure quantum communication relies on the ability to coherently and reversibly map nonclassical states of light onto long-lived atomic states. A promising technique that accomplishes this employs Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT), in which a strong classical control field modifies the optical properties of a weak signal field in such a way that a previously opaque medium becomes transparent to the signal field. The accompanying steep dispersion in the index of refraction allows for pulses of light to be decelerated, then stored as an atomic excitation, and later retrieved as a photonic mode. This dissertation presents the results of investigations into methods for optimizing the memory efficiency of this process in an ensemble of hot Rb atoms. We have experimentally demonstrated the effectiveness of two protocols for yielding the best memory efficiency possible at a given atomic density. Improving memory efficiency requires operation at higher optical depths, where undesired effects such as four-wave mixing (FWM) become enhanced and can spontaneously produce a new optical mode (Stokes field). We present the results of experimental and theoretical investigations of the FWM-EIT interaction under continuous-wave (cw), slow light, and stored light conditions. In particular, we provide evidence that indicates that while a Stokes field is generated upon retrieval of the signal field, any information originally encoded in a seeded Stokes field is not independently preserved during the storage process. We present a simple model that describes the propagation dynamics and provides an intuitive description of the EIT-FWM process.
We theoretically investigate image storage in hot atomic vapor. A so-called 4f4f4f system is adopted for imaging and an atomic vapor cell is placed over the transform plane. The Fraunhofer diffraction pattern of an object in the object plane can thus be transformed into atomic Raman coherence according to the idea of ``light storage.'' We investigate how the stored diffraction pattern evolves under diffusion and discuss the essence of the stability of its dark spots. Our result indicates, under appropriate conditions, that an image can be reconstructed with high fidelity. The main reason for this procedure is the fact that diffusion of opposite-phase components of the diffraction pattern interferes destructively.
A tripod-type cold atomic system driven by double-probe fields and a coupling field is explored to store double images based on the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). During the storage time, an intensity-dependent signal field is applied further to extend the system with the fifth level involved, then the cross-phase modulation is introduced for coherently manipulating the stored images. Both analytical analysis and numerical simulation clearly demonstrate a tunable phase shift with low nonlinear absorption can be imprinted on the stored images, which effectively can improve the visibility of the reconstructed images. The phase shift and the energy retrieving rate of the probe fields are immune to the coupling intensity and the atomic optical density. The proposed scheme can easily be extended to the simultaneous storage of multiple images. This work may be exploited toward the end of EIT-based multiple-image storage devices for all-optical classical and quantum information processings.