Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1105.6261 · Physical Review A

Dynamics of slow light and light storage in a Doppler-broadened electromagnetically-induced-transparency medium: A numerical approach

Shih-Wei Su, Yi‐Hsin Chen, Shih-Chuan Gou, Tzyy‐Leng Horng, Ite A. Yu

Published Jan 31, 2011• 50 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We present a numerical scheme to study the dynamics of slow light and light storage in an electromagnetically-induced-transparency (EIT) medium at finite temperatures. Allowing for the motional coupling, we derive a set of coupled Schr\"odinger equations describing a boosted closed three-level EIT system according to the principle of Galilean relativity. The dynamics of a uniformly moving EIT medium can thus be determined by numerically integrating the coupled Schr\"odinger equations for atoms plus one ancillary Maxwell-Schr\"odinger equation for the probe pulse. The central idea of this work rests on the assumption that the loss of ground-state coherence at finite temperatures can be ascribed to the incoherent superposition of density matrices representing the EIT systems with various velocities. Close agreements are demonstrated in comparing the numerical results with the experimental data for both slow light and light storage. In particular, the distinct characters featuring the decay of ground-state coherence can be well verified for slow light and light storage. This warrants that the current scheme can be applied to determine the decaying profile of the ground-state coherence as well as the temperature of the EIT medium.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.83.013827

Related papers

Reply to “Comment on ‘Dynamics of slow light and light storage in a Doppler-broadened electromagnetically-induced-transparency medium: A numerical approach’ ”

Shih-Chuan Gou, Shih-Wei Su, Ite A. Yu

A damping term in the theoretical model of our paper [Phys. Rev. A 83, 013827 (2011)] was questioned by the author of the Comment. The author argued this damping term cannot exactly describe the spontaneous decay or quantum jump process and, thus, concluded that our results are prone to be incorrect. However, the physics of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is mainly determined by the ground-state coherence and the optical coherence of the probe transition. We show here that the damping term in our paper described the relaxation process of optical coherence in the EIT system, but not the spontaneous decay process of the population. The case of spontaneous decay used in the argument of the Comment is not an issue in typical EIT studies, in which the probe field is weak and treated as the perturbation. Furthermore, the experimental data in the paper were taken under the condition of a weak probe field. Our theoretical model in the weak-probe condition actually deals with the two coherences of EIT physics, and is suitable for analysis of the data. We believe the results of the study, focusing on the dynamics of slow light and light storage in Doppler-broadened EIT media, are correct.

Physical Review A•Oct 2, 2017•2 citations

Comment on “Dynamics of slow light and light storage in a Doppler-broadened electromagnetically-induced-transparency medium: A numerical approach”

Young-Tak Chough

In studying the dynamics of slow light and light storage in a Doppler-broadened electromagnetically-induced-transparency medium, Su et al. [Phys. Rev. A 83, 013827 (2011)] simply included the damping rate of the system into the Schr\"odinger equation without considering the accompanying quantum jump processes, whose results therefore are prone to be incorrect.

Physical Review A•Sep 29, 2017•1 citation

An effective thermal-parametrization theory for the slow-light dynamics in a Doppler-broadened electromagnetically induced transparency medium

Shih-Wei Su, Yi-Hsin Chen, Shih-Chuan Gou +1 more

We model the effects of the atomic thermal motion on the propagation of a light pulse in an electromagnetically induced transparency medium by introducing a set of effectively temperature-dependent parameters, including the Rabi frequency of the coupling field, optical density and relaxation rate of the ground state coherence, into the governing equations. The validity of this effective theory is verified by the close agreement between the theoretical results and the experimental data.

arXiv:1105.6297•Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Jul 20, 2011•14 citations

Theory of thermal motion in electromagnetically induced transparency: Effects of diffusion, Doppler broadening, and Dicke and Ramsey narrowing

Ofer Firstenberg, M. Shuker, Rami Pugatch +3 more

We present a theoretical model for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in vapor that incorporates atomic motion and velocity-changing collisions into the dynamics of the density-matrix distribution. Within a unified formalism, we demonstrate various motional effects, known for EIT in vapor: Doppler broadening of the absorption spectrum; Dicke narrowing and time-of-flight broadening of the transmission window for a finite-sized probe; diffusion of atomic coherence during storage of light and diffusion of the light-matter excitation during slow-light propagation; and Ramsey narrowing of the spectrum for a probe and pump beams of finite size.

arXiv:0801.3660•Physical Review A•Apr 23, 2008•63 citations

Linear and nonlinear light propagations in a Doppler-broadened medium via electromagnetically induced transparency

Liang Li, Guoxiang Huang

We present a systematic theoretical study to deal with linear and nonlinear light propagations in a Doppler-broadened three-level $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ system via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), with incoherent population exchange between two lower energy levels taken into account. Through a careful analysis of base state and linear excitation, we show that the EIT condition of the system is given by $|{\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{c}|{}^{2}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{31}\ensuremath{\gg}2{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{21}\ensuremath{\Delta}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{D}^{2}$, where ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{c}$ is half the Rabi frequency of the control field, $\ensuremath{\Delta}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{D}$ is the Doppler width, and ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{\mathit{jl}}$ is the decay rate of the coherence between states $|j\ensuremath{\rangle}$ and $|l\ensuremath{\rangle}$. Under this condition, the effect of incoherent population exchange is insignificant, while dephasing dominates the decoherence of the system. This condition also ensures the validity of the weak nonlinear perturbation theory used in this work for solving the Maxwell-Bloch equations with inhomogeneous broadening. We then investigate the nonlinear propagation of the probe field and show that it is possible to form temporal optical solitons in the Doppler-broadened medium. Such solitons have ultraslow propagating velocity and can be generated in very low light power. The possibility of realizing ($1+1$)-dimensional and ($2+1$)-dimensional spatial optical solitons in the adiabatic regime of the system is also discussed.

Physical Review A•Aug 18, 2010•27 citations

Adomian’s decomposition method for electromagnetically induced transparency

Yee-Mou Kao, Tsin-Fu Jiang, Ite A. Yu

We developed the Adomian's decomposition method to work for the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) problem. The method is general and capable to solve the coupled nonlinear partial differential equations for a light pulse passing through a three-level -type coherent medium. This EIT system is described by the coupled Maxwell-Schrödinger equations and optical Bloch equations. In the weak probe field case, the results agree with perturbation solutions and experimental data. In the stronger probe field case while perturbation may fail, our results reproduce experimental data well. With the techniques of spatial and time partitions, we extend the decomposition method that will be versatile for the investigation of the light pulse propagating through a coherent atomic medium.

Physical Review E•Dec 6, 2005•3 citations
We present a numerical scheme to study the dynamics of slow light and light storage in an electromagnetically-induced-transparency (EIT) medium at finite temperatures. Allowing for the motional coupling, we derive a set of coupled Schr"odinger equations describing a boosted closed three-level EIT system according to the principle of Galilean relativity. The dynamics of a uniformly moving EIT medium can thus be determined by numerically integrating the coupled Schr"odinger equations for atoms plus one ancillary Maxwell-Schr"odinger equation for the probe pulse. The central idea of this work rests on the assumption that the loss of ground-state coherence at finite temperatures can be ascribed to the incoherent superposition of density matrices representing the EIT systems with various velocities. Close agreements are demonstrated in comparing the numerical results with the experimental data for both slow light and light storage. In particular, the distinct characters featuring the decay of ground-state coherence can be well verified for slow light and light storage. This warrants that the current scheme can be applied to determine the decaying profile of the ground-state coherence as well as the temperature of the EIT medium.
A damping term in the theoretical model of our paper [Phys. Rev. A 83, 013827 (2011)] was questioned by the author of the Comment. The author argued this damping term cannot exactly describe the spontaneous decay or quantum jump process and, thus, concluded that our results are prone to be incorrect. However, the physics of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is mainly determined by the ground-state coherence and the optical coherence of the probe transition. We show here that the damping term in our paper described the relaxation process of optical coherence in the EIT system, but not the spontaneous decay process of the population. The case of spontaneous decay used in the argument of the Comment is not an issue in typical EIT studies, in which the probe field is weak and treated as the perturbation. Furthermore, the experimental data in the paper were taken under the condition of a weak probe field. Our theoretical model in the weak-probe condition actually deals with the two coherences of EIT physics, and is suitable for analysis of the data. We believe the results of the study, focusing on the dynamics of slow light and light storage in Doppler-broadened EIT media, are correct.
We present a theoretical model for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in vapor that incorporates atomic motion and velocity-changing collisions into the dynamics of the density-matrix distribution. Within a unified formalism, we demonstrate various motional effects, known for EIT in vapor: Doppler broadening of the absorption spectrum; Dicke narrowing and time-of-flight broadening of the transmission window for a finite-sized probe; diffusion of atomic coherence during storage of light and diffusion of the light-matter excitation during slow-light propagation; and Ramsey narrowing of the spectrum for a probe and pump beams of finite size.
We present a systematic theoretical study to deal with linear and nonlinear light propagations in a Doppler-broadened three-level $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ system via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), with incoherent population exchange between two lower energy levels taken into account. Through a careful analysis of base state and linear excitation, we show that the EIT condition of the system is given by $|{\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{c}|{}^{2}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{31}\ensuremath{\gg}2{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{21}\ensuremath{\Delta}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{D}^{2}$, where ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{c}$ is half the Rabi frequency of the control field, $\ensuremath{\Delta}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{D}$ is the Doppler width, and ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{\mathit{jl}}$ is the decay rate of the coherence between states $|j\ensuremath{\rangle}$ and $|l\ensuremath{\rangle}$. Under this condition, the effect of incoherent population exchange is insignificant, while dephasing dominates the decoherence of the system. This condition also ensures the validity of the weak nonlinear perturbation theory used in this work for solving the Maxwell-Bloch equations with inhomogeneous broadening. We then investigate the nonlinear propagation of the probe field and show that it is possible to form temporal optical solitons in the Doppler-broadened medium. Such solitons have ultraslow propagating velocity and can be generated in very low light power. The possibility of realizing (1+11+11+1)-dimensional and (2+12+12+1)-dimensional spatial optical solitons in the adiabatic regime of the system is also discussed.
We developed the Adomian's decomposition method to work for the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) problem. The method is general and capable to solve the coupled nonlinear partial differential equations for a light pulse passing through a three-level -type coherent medium. This EIT system is described by the coupled Maxwell-Schrödinger equations and optical Bloch equations. In the weak probe field case, the results agree with perturbation solutions and experimental data. In the stronger probe field case while perturbation may fail, our results reproduce experimental data well. With the techniques of spatial and time partitions, we extend the decomposition method that will be versatile for the investigation of the light pulse propagating through a coherent atomic medium.