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arXiv:1404.6616 · Nature Communications

Experimental demonstration of spinor slow light

Meng‐Jung Lee, Julius Ruseckas, Chin-Yuan Lee, Viačeslav Kudriašov, Kao-Fang Chang, Hung-Wen Cho, Gediminas Juzeliūnas, Ite A. Yu

Published Nov 24, 2014• 63 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Slow light based on the effect of electromagnetically induced transparency is of great interest due to its applications in low-light-level nonlinear optics and quantum information manipulation. The previous experiments all dealt with the single-component slow light. Here, we report the experimental demonstration of two-component or spinor slow light using a double-tripod atom-light coupling scheme. The scheme involves three atomic ground states coupled to two excited states by six light fields. The oscillation due to the interaction between the two components was observed. On the basis of the stored light, our data showed that the double-tripod scheme behaves like the two outcomes of an interferometer enabling precision measurements of frequency detuning. We experimentally demonstrated a possible application of the double-tripod scheme as quantum memory/rotator for the two-colour qubit. Our study also suggests that the spinor slow light is a better method than a widely used scheme in the nonlinear frequency conversion.

DOI
10.1038/ncomms6542

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Acta Physica Sinica•Jan 1, 2016•3 citations
Slow light based on the effect of electromagnetically induced transparency is of great interest due to its applications in low-light-level nonlinear optics and quantum information manipulation. The previous experiments all dealt with the single-component slow light. Here, we report the experimental demonstration of two-component or spinor slow light using a double-tripod atom-light coupling scheme. The scheme involves three atomic ground states coupled to two excited states by six light fields. The oscillation due to the interaction between the two components was observed. On the basis of the stored light, our data showed that the double-tripod scheme behaves like the two outcomes of an interferometer enabling precision measurements of frequency detuning. We experimentally demonstrated a possible application of the double-tripod scheme as quantum memory/rotator for the two-colour qubit. Our study also suggests that the spinor slow light is a better method than a widely used scheme in the nonlinear frequency conversion.
Over the last decade there has been a continuing interest in slow and stored light based on the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effect, because of their potential applications in quantum information manipulation. However, previous experimental works all dealt with the single-component slow light which cannot be employed as a qubit. In this work, we report the first experimental demonstration of two-component or spinor slow light (SSL) using a double tripod (DT) atom-light coupling scheme. The oscillations between the two components, similar to the Rabi oscillation of a two-level system or a qubit, were observed. Single-photon SSL can be considered as two-color qubits. We experimentally demonstrated a possible application of the DT scheme as quantum memory and quantum rotator for the two-color qubits. This work opens up a new direction in the slow light research.
We investigate quantum nonlinear effects at a level of individual quanta in a double-tripod atom-light coupling scheme involving two atomic Rydberg states. In such a scheme the slow light coherently coupled to strongly interacting Rydberg states represents a two-component or spinor light. The scheme provides additional possibilities for the control and manipulation of light quanta. A distinctive feature of the proposed setup is that it combines the spin-orbit coupling for the spinor slow light with an interaction between the photons, enabling generation of the second probe beam even when two-photon detuning is zero. Furthermore, the interaction between the photons can become repulsive if the one-photon detunings have opposite signs. This is different from a single-ladder atom-light coupling scheme in which the interaction between the photons is attractive for both positive and negative detunings as long as the Rabi frequency of the control beam is not too high.
We study the manipulation of slow light with an orbital angular momentum propagating in a cloud of cold atoms. Atoms are affected by four co-propagating control laser beams in a double tripod configuration of the atomic energy levels involved, allowing us to minimize the losses at the vortex core of the control beams. In such a situation the atomic medium is transparent for a pair of co-propagating probe fields, leading to the creation of two-component (spinor) slow light. We study the interaction between the probe fields when two control beams carry optical vortices of opposite helicity. As a result, a transfer of the optical vortex takes place from the control to the probe fields without switching off and on the control beams. This feature is missing in a single tripod scheme where the optical vortex can be transferred from the control to the probe field only during either the storage or retrieval of light.
We consider two-component ``spinor'' slow light in an ensemble of atoms coherently driven by two pairs of counterpropagating control laser fields in a double tripod-type linkage scheme. We derive an equation of motion for the spinor slow light (SSL) representing an effective Dirac equation for a massive particle with the mass determined by the two-photon detuning. By changing the detuning the atomic medium acts as a photonic crystal with a controllable band gap. If the frequency of the incident probe light lies within the band gap, the light experiences reflection from the sample and can tunnel through it. For frequencies outside the band gap, the transmission and reflection probabilities oscillate with the increasing length of the sample. In both cases the reflection takes place into the complementary mode of the probe field. We investigate the influence of the finite excited state lifetime on the transmission and reflection coefficients of the probe light. We discuss possible experimental implementations of the SSL using alkali-metal atoms such as rubidium or sodium.
Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effect is an effective means to store light field into the atom ensemble. The extra noise introduced in the stored procedure can be suppressed greatly under the condition of large one-photon detuning and proper two-photon detuning. In this paper, we experimentally investigate the slow light and light storage in 87Rb vapor by using EIT effect, and study the effects of the two-photon detuning on light pulse delay and light memory at 650 MHz one-photon red detuning. In order to avoid some unwanted effects under the high optical depth condition, such as four-wave mixing, etc., the temperature of the atomic cell is controlled at 65 degrees Celsius. The experimental results show that the delay and the retrieval signals are significant in a two-photon detuning range from 0 to 0.5 MHz. The pulse delay decreases with the increase of two-photon detuning. The delay is 0.36 ups at two-photon resonance, and it is 0.07 ups at 1 MHz two-photon detuning. We simulate the delayed light pulse by using a three-level -type EIT model. The shapes of the measured slow light are in agreement with the theoretical results. The retrieval signals are observed at different two-photon detunings. The shapes of the retrieval pulses change with the two-photon detuning. The shape variations of the retrieval pulses cannot be explained by the three-level EIT theoretical model. By considering the atomic Zeeman sublevels interacting with the left-circular and right-circular polarized components of probe and coupling fields, multiple -type EIT systems will be formed. The interference between the retrieval signals from multiple EIT subsystems causes the shape distortions of retrieval pulses. The retrieval efficiency is measured as a function of two-photon detuning. The retrieval efficiency oscillates, and multiple peaks appear with the increase of two-photon detuning. The first peak appears at two-photon resonance, and the second peak appears at 0.48 MHz two-photon detuning. Finally, we measure the retrieval efficiency as a function of the coupling power at 0.48 MHz two-photon detuning. The optimal retrieval efficiency reaches 25% when the coupling power is 100 mW. These results provide experimental reference for the quantum memory of continuous variables in the hot atom ensemble.