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arXiv:1311.5292 · Physical Review A

Low-light-level four-wave mixing by quantum interference

Chang-Kai Chiu, Yi‐Hsin Chen, Yen Chun Chen, Ite A. Yu, Ying-Cheng Chen, Yong-Fan Chen

Published Feb 24, 2014• 37 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We observed electromagnetically induced transparency-based four-wave mixing (FWM) in the pulsed regime at low light levels. The FWM conversion efficiency of $3.8(9)%$ was observed in a four-level system of cold ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms using a driving laser pulse with a peak intensity of $\ensuremath{\approx}80$ $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$, corresponding to an energy of $\ensuremath{\approx}60$ photons per atomic cross section. Comparison between the experimental data and the theoretical predictions proposed by Harris and Hau [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4611 (1999)] showed good agreement. Additionally, a high conversion efficiency of $46(2)%$ was demonstrated when applying this scheme using a driving laser intensity of $\ensuremath{\approx}1.8$ $\mathrm{mW}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. According to our theoretical predictions, this FWM scheme can achieve a conversion efficiency of nearly $100%$ when using a dense medium with an optical depth of 500.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.89.023839

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We observed electromagnetically induced transparency-based four-wave mixing (FWM) in the pulsed regime at low light levels. The FWM conversion efficiency of 3.8(9)3.8(9)%3.8(9) was observed in a four-level system of cold 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms using a driving laser pulse with a peak intensity of \ensuremath≈80\ensuremath{\approx}80\ensuremath≈80 \ensuremathμW/cm2\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}\ensuremathμW/cm2, corresponding to an energy of \ensuremath≈60\ensuremath{\approx}60\ensuremath≈60 photons per atomic cross section. Comparison between the experimental data and the theoretical predictions proposed by Harris and Hau [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4611 (1999)] showed good agreement. Additionally, a high conversion efficiency of 46(2)46(2)%46(2) was demonstrated when applying this scheme using a driving laser intensity of \ensuremath≈1.8\ensuremath{\approx}1.8\ensuremath≈1.8 mW/cm2\mathrm{mW}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}mW/cm2. According to our theoretical predictions, this FWM scheme can achieve a conversion efficiency of nearly 100100%100 when using a dense medium with an optical depth of 500.
Electromagnetically-induced-transparency-based four-wave mixing (FWM) in a resonant four-level double-Λ system has a maximum conversion efficiency (CE) of 25% due to spontaneous emission. Herein, we demonstrate that spontaneous emission can be considerably suppressed by arranging the applied laser beams in a backward configuration. With the backward double-Λ FWM scheme, we observe a CE of 63% in cold rubidium atoms with an optical depth (OD) of 48. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first observation of a CE exceeding the conversion limit in resonant FWM processes. Furthermore, we present a theoretical model that includes the phase-mismatch effect in the backward double-Λ FWM system. According to the theoretical model, the present scheme can achieve 96% CE using a medium with a large OD of 200 under ideal conditions. Such an efficient frequency conversion scheme has potential applications in optical quantum information technology.
A scheme of high-efficiency four-wave mixing (FWM) is discussed in the case of an atomic medium in a six-level configuration via two electromagnetically induced transparencies (EIT) and a multiphoton destructive interference induced transparency. By adjusting the intensity of the microwave field, an increase of several orders in the conversion efficiency of FWM can be obtained. Our scheme may provide new possibilities for technological applications such as nonlinear spectroscopy at very low light intensity, quantum single-photon nonlinear optics and quantum information science.
We analyze a four-wave-mixing (FWM) scheme in a five-level atomic system based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We show that EIT suppresses both two-photon and three-photon absorptions in the FWM scheme and enables the four-wave mixing to proceed through real, resonant intermediate states without absorption loss. The scheme results in a several orders of magnitude increase in the FWM efficiency in comparison with a recent scheme [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 143902 (2002)] and may be used for generating short-wavelength radiation at low pump intensities.
Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a four-level atomic system suppresses linear absorption and leads to resonantly enhanced slow-light four-wave mixing at low light intensities. We analyse the backward four-wave mixing in the four-level system under the EIT conditions, derive the four-wave-mixing efficiency and discuss slow-light propagation conditions. We present experimental measurements of resonant four-wave mixing with the backward scheme in cold Rb atoms and compare the experimental results with the theoretical calculations.
Long-distance quantum optical communications usually require efficient wave-mixing processes to convert the wavelengths of single photons. Many quantum applications based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) have been proposed and demonstrated at the single-photon level, such as quantum memories, all-optical transistors, and cross-phase modulations. However, EIT-based four-wave mixing (FWM) in a resonant double-$\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ configuration has a maximum conversion efficiency (CE) of 25% because of absorptive loss due to spontaneous emission. An improved scheme using spatially modulated intensities of two control fields has been theoretically proposed to overcome this conversion limit. In this study, we first demonstrate wavelength conversion from 780 to 795 nm with a 43% CE by using this scheme at an optical density (OD) of 19 in cold 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms. According to the theoretical model, the CE in the proposed scheme can further increase to 96% at an OD of 240 under ideal conditions, thereby attaining an identical CE to that of the previous nonresonant double-$\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ scheme at half the OD. This spatial-light-modulation-based FWM scheme can achieve a near-unity CE, thus providing an easy method of implementing an efficient quantum wavelength converter for all-optical quantum information processing.
We have analyzed a five-level Λ-configuration four-wave mixing (FWM) scheme for obtaining high-efficiency FWM based on the two-electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in the ultraslow propagation regime. We find that the maximum FWM efficiency is nearly 30%, which is orders of magnitude larger than previous schemes based on the two-EIT. Our scheme allows the possibility for new technological applications such as nonlinear spectroscopy at very low light intensity, quantum single-photon nonlinear optics and quantum information science.