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arXiv:1106.2350 · Physical Review A

Efficient all-optical switch using a Λ atom in a cavity QED system

Anne E. B. Nielsen, Joseph Kerckhoff

Published Oct 12, 2011• 19 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose an all-optical switch constructed from a two-mode optical resonator containing a strongly coupled, three-state system. The coupling allows a weak, continuous wave laser drive to incoherently control the transmission of a much stronger, continuous wave signal laser into (and through) the resonator. We demonstrate that in this simple setup the presence of a control drive with 1/10$\text{th}$ the power of the signal drive can induce near complete reflection of the signal, while its absence allows for near complete transmission. The switch can also be operated as a set-reset relay with two control inputs that efficiently drive the switch into either the reflecting or the transmitting state.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.84.043821

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We propose an all-optical switch constructed from a two-mode optical resonator containing a strongly coupled, three-state system. The coupling allows a weak, continuous wave laser drive to incoherently control the transmission of a much stronger, continuous wave signal laser into (and through) the resonator. We demonstrate that in this simple setup the presence of a control drive with 1/10th\text{th}th the power of the signal drive can induce near complete reflection of the signal, while its absence allows for near complete transmission. The switch can also be operated as a set-reset relay with two control inputs that efficiently drive the switch into either the reflecting or the transmitting state.
We propose a scheme of the interaction-free all-optical switching in a multiatom cavity-QED system consisting of three-level atoms confined in a cavity and coupled by a free-space control laser. A signal laser field is coupled into the cavity and its transmission through and reflection from the cavity form two output channels. We show that the free-space control laser induces destructive quantum interference in the excitation of the atom-cavity normal mode, which can be used to switch on or off the output signal light of the reflection and the transmission channels. When the control light is coupled to the atoms, the input signal light is nearly totally reflected and this means that there is no direct coupling of the control light and the signal light through the cavity-confined atoms. We present analytical and numerical calculations that show that this type of the interaction-free all-optical switching in the coupled cavity-atom system can be realized with high switching efficiencies and at low light intensities.
We report an experimental observation of all-optical switching in a cavity QED system consisting of multiple three-level atoms confined in a cavity mode. A signal light is coupled into the normal mode of the cavity-atom system and its transmission through the cavity is switched on or off by a control laser coupled to the atoms from free space. Our experiment shows that the all-optical switching in the cavity QED system can be performed for the cavity mode tuned on resonance with or off resonance from the atomic transition frequency.
Abstract We present a scheme to realize two‐direction optical switch by a single‐mode optical cavity containing some four‐level atoms. The high switching efficiency can be obtained through low photon loss and large third‐order nonlinear susceptibility of this N‐type atomic system in cavity. Without the microwave source, it can be reduced to a Λ‐type atomic system where a coupling laser is used to realize single intracavity electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). Namely, the probe field can be transmitted almost totally at resonance. Thus a two‐direction optical switch is operated and the state for forward (backward) direction is set as “open” (“closed”). When microwave source is introduced, dressed splitting of intracavity dark state happens. The probe field is reflected almost completely at resonance and the state of the optical switch at forward and backward directions (transmitted and reflected channels) is shifted as “closed” and “open”, respectively. Moreover, this scheme is much advantageous to realize splitting of intracavity dark state because weak microwave field ( ) induces the coupling between intracavity dark state and one sublevel of ground state. While a strong pump laser ( ) which couples the intracavity dark state with an excited level is applied to realize this splitting in ref. [Phys. Rev. A 85 013814 (2012)].
We propose a scheme of interaction-free bidirectional multi-channel all-optical switching in a multi-level coupling system consisting of four-level atoms confined in a cavity and coupled by a free-space control laser. A signal laser field is coupled into the cavity and excites two separate transitions of atoms simultaneously under the collective strong coupling condition. The transmission and reflection of signal fields form bidirectional output channels. A free-space control laser induces destructive quantum interference in the multi-level excitation of an atom-cavity system, which can be used to switch on/off the output signal lights of transmission/reflection channels. There is no direct coupling of control light and signal light through the cavity-confined atoms because the output of signal light is nearly totally suppressed to the opposite direction when control light is present. The proposed all-optical switching scheme can be realized with high switching efficiency, broad bandwidth, and weak light intensity. It may be useful for future devices of optical routing, optical communications, and various quantum logic elements.
We present a theoretical model of light controlling light in a multi-atom cavity QED system consisting of three-level atoms confined in a cavity and interacting with a control laser from free space. A signal laser is coupled into the cavity and provides two output light channels: the transmitted signal light through the cavity and the reflected signal light from the cavity. We show that with the cavity electromagnetically induced transparency manifested by the free-space control light, the amplitude and the phase of the intra-cavity signal light can be manipulated by the free-space control laser. We analyze the cavity transmitted signal light and the cavity reflected signal light, and show that the two output channels of the signal light are complementary and the cavity-atom system is a versatile system for studies of all-optical switching and cross-phase modulation at low control intensities.
Abstract We provide an approach to realize an optical switch using an induced transparency phenomenon in double-cavity structures. Our system consists of two directly coupled cavities, each coupled to a different waveguide. The system is pumped by a control field and a signal field propagating in the waveguides. We analyze the excitation spectra of the cavities, as well as corresponding transmission and reflection coefficients for the signal field. We find that induced transparency or an absorption phenomenon for the signal field can be established in this system, depending on the parameters of the control field. Thus, the transport properties for the signal field are highly controllable. Under appropriate parameters the system can behave as a nearly perfect optical switch for the signal field. The influence of dissipations on the efficiency of the switch is also discussed. The device studied here is suitable for on-chip integrations, and may have broad applications in future quantum networks.