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:1711.11076 · Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Electromagnetically induced transparency and nonlinear pulse propagation in a combined tripod and Λ atom-light coupling scheme

Hamid Reza Hamedi, J Ruseckas, Gediminas Juzeliūnas

Published Aug 8, 2017• 29 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract We consider propagation of a probe pulse in an atomic medium characterized by a combined tripod and Lambda (Λ) atom-light coupling scheme. The scheme involves three atomic ground states coupled to two excited states by five light fields. It is demonstrated that dark states can be formed for such an atom-light coupling. This is essential for formation of the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and slow light. In the limiting cases the scheme reduces to conventional Λ- or N -type atom-light couplings providing the EIT or absorption, respectively. Thus, the atomic system can experience a transition from the EIT to the absorption by changing the amplitudes or phases of control lasers. Subsequently the scheme is employed to analyze the nonlinear pulse propagation using the coupled Maxwell–Bloch equations. It is shown that a generation of stable slow light optical solitons is possible in such a five-level combined tripod and Λ atomic system.

DOI
10.1088/1361-6455/aa84f6

Related papers

Propagation of a laser pulse in a three-level cascade atomic medium under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency

Minh Dong Hoang, Van Doai Le, Ngoc Sau Vu +2 more

We study the propagation dynamics of a single pair of probe and coupling laser pulses in a three-level cascade atomic medium by numerical solving the Maxwell-Bloch equations for atoms and fields. Influences of the pulse durations, intensity and pulse area of the coupling laser on the probe laser propagation are investigated. We found the conditions that the undistorted probe pulse in such i.e., the effect is established. Under conditions, the ground state population is trapped in a dark state. Full Text: PDF References A. Imamoglu, S.E. Harris, Lasers without inversion: interference of dressed lifetime-broadened states, Opt. Lett. 14 (1989) 1344. CrossRef K.J. Boller, A. Imamoglu, S.E. Harris, Observation of electromagnetically induced transparency, Phys. Rev. Lett. 66 (1991) 2593. CrossRef A.S. Zibrov, M.D. Lukin, D.E. Nikonov, L. Hollberg, M.O. Scully, V.L. Velichansky, and H.G. Robinson, Experimental Demonstration of Laser Oscillation without Population Inversion via Quantum Interference in Rb, Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 (1995) 1499. CrossRef L.V. Hau, S. E. Harris, Z. Dutton, C.H. Bejroozi, speed reduction to 17 metres per second in an ultracold atomic gas, Nature, 397 (1999) 594. CrossRef L.V. Doai, D.X. Khoa, and N.H. Bang, EIT enhanced self-Kerr nonlinearity in the three-level lambda system under Doppler broadening, Phys. Scr. 90 (2015)045502. CrossRef D.X. Khoa, L.V. Doai, D.H. Son, and N.H. Bang, Enhancement of self-Kerr nonlinearity via electromagnetically induced transparency in a five-level cascade system: an analytical approach, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 31, N6 (2014), pp. 1330. CrossRef F.T. Hioe and R. Grobe, Matched Optical Solitary Waves for Three- and Five-Level Systems, Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, (1994) 2559. CrossRef S.E. Harris and Z.F. Luo, Preparation energy for electromagnetically induced transparency, Phys. Rev. A. 52 (1995) R928. CrossRef V. G. Arkhipkin, I.V. Timofeev, Adiabatic propagation of short pulses under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency, Quantum Electronics, 30 (2000) 180. CrossRef M. Kiffner, T. N. Dey, Dynamical control of pulse propagation in electromagnetically induced transparency, Phys. Rev. A. 79 (2009) 023829. CrossRef R. Yu, J. Li, P. Huang, A. Zheng, X. Yang, Dynamic control of light propagation and optical switching through an RF-driven cascade-type atomic medium, Phys. Lett. A. 373 (2009) 2992. CrossRef E. Paspalakis,N. J. Kylstra and P. L. Knight, Propagation and nonlinear generation dynamics in a coherently prepared four-level system, Phys. Rev. A 65 (2002) 053808. CrossRef E. Ignesti, R. Buffa, L. Fini, E. Sali, M. V. Tognetti, S. Cavalieri, Controlling the propagation of broadband light pulses by Induced Transparency, Opt. Commun, 285 (2012) 1185. CrossRef P. R. Bermanand C. H. Raymond Ooi, Pulse propagation in a medium of ?-type atoms, Phys. Rev. A 86 (2012), 053812. CrossRef G. Buica, T. Nakajima, Propagation of two short laser pulse trains in a ?-type three-level medium under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency, Opt. Commun. 332 (2014) 59. CrossRef L. V. Doai, P. V. Trong, D. X. Khoa, and Ng. H. Bang, Electromagnetically induced transparency in five-level cascade scheme of 85Rb atoms: An analytical approach, Optik, 125 (2014) 3666?3669. CrossRef J.H. Eberly, Transmission of dressed fields in three-level media, Quantum Semiclass. Opt. 7 (1995) 373. CrossRef M.D. Crisp, Propagation of Small-Area Pulses of Coherent Light through a Resonant Medium, Phys. Rev. A 1 (1970) 1604. CrossRef

Photonics Letters of Poland•Sep 30, 2016•9 citations

Propagation of a laser pulse in a three-level cascade atomic medium under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency

Nguyen Huy Bang, Minh Dong Hoang, Van Doai Le +2 more

We study the propagation dynamics of a single pair of probe and coupling laser pulses in a three-level cascade atomic medium by numerical solving the Maxwell-Bloch equations for atoms and fields. Influences of the pulse durations, intensity and pulse area of the coupling laser on the probe laser propagation are investigated. We found the conditions that the undistorted probe pulse in such medium, i.e., the EIT effect is established. Under EIT conditions, the ground state population is trapped in a dark state. Full Text: PDF References A. Imamoglu, S.E. Harris, "Lasers without inversion: interference of dressed lifetime-broadened states", Opt. Lett. 14 (1989) 1344. CrossRef K.J. Boller, A. Imamoglu, S.E. Harris, "Observation of electromagnetically induced transparency", Phys. Rev. Lett. 66 (1991) 2593. CrossRef A.S. Zibrov, M.D. Lukin, D.E. Nikonov, L. Hollberg, M.O. Scully, V.L. Velichansky, and H.G. Robinson, "Experimental Demonstration of Laser Oscillation without Population Inversion via Quantum Interference in Rb", Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 (1995) 1499. CrossRef L.V. Hau, S. E. Harris, Z. Dutton, C.H. Bejroozi, "Light speed reduction to 17 metres per second in an ultracold atomic gas", Nature, 397 (1999) 594. CrossRef L.V. Doai, D.X. Khoa, and N.H. Bang, "EIT enhanced self-Kerr nonlinearity in the three-level lambda system under Doppler broadening", Phys. Scr. 90 (2015)045502. CrossRef D.X. Khoa, L.V. Doai, D.H. Son, and N.H. Bang, "Enhancement of self-Kerr nonlinearity via electromagnetically induced transparency in a five-level cascade system: an analytical approach", J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 31, N6 (2014), pp. 1330. CrossRef F.T. Hioe and R. Grobe, "Matched Optical Solitary Waves for Three- and Five-Level Systems", Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, (1994) 2559. CrossRef S.E. Harris and Z.F. Luo, "Preparation energy for electromagnetically induced transparency", Phys. Rev. A. 52 (1995) R928. CrossRef V. G. Arkhipkin, I.V. Timofeev, "Adiabatic propagation of short pulses under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency", Quantum Electronics, 30 (2000) 180. CrossRef M. Kiffner, T. N. Dey, "Dynamical control of pulse propagation in electromagnetically induced transparency", Phys. Rev. A. 79 (2009) 023829. CrossRef R. Yu, J. Li, P. Huang, A. Zheng, X. Yang, "Dynamic control of light propagation and optical switching through an RF-driven cascade-type atomic medium", Phys. Lett. A. 373 (2009) 2992. CrossRef E. Paspalakis,N. J. Kylstra and P. L. Knight, "Propagation and nonlinear generation dynamics in a coherently prepared four-level system", Phys. Rev. A 65 (2002) 053808. CrossRef E. Ignesti, R. Buffa, L. Fini, E. Sali, M. V. Tognetti, S. Cavalieri, "Controlling the propagation of broadband light pulses by Electromagnetically Induced Transparency", Opt. Commun, 285 (2012) 1185. CrossRef P. R. Bermanand C. H. Raymond Ooi, "Pulse propagation in a medium of ?-type atoms", Phys. Rev. A 86 (2012), 053812. CrossRef G. Buica, T. Nakajima, "Propagation of two short laser pulse trains in a ?-type three-level medium under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency", Opt. Commun. 332 (2014) 59. CrossRef L. V. Doai, P. V. Trong, D. X. Khoa, and Ng. H. Bang, "Electromagnetically induced transparency in five-level cascade scheme of 85Rb atoms: An analytical approach", Optik, 125 (2014) 3666?3669. CrossRef J.H. Eberly, "Transmission of dressed fields in three-level media", Quantum Semiclass. Opt. 7 (1995) 373. CrossRef M.D. Crisp, "Propagation of Small-Area Pulses of Coherent Light through a Resonant Medium", Phys. Rev. A 1 (1970) 1604. CrossRef

Photonics Letters of Poland•Sep 30, 2016•6 citations

Multi-Soliton Propagation and Interaction in Λ-Type EIT Media: An Integrable Approach

Vaduganathan Ramesh Kumar, Prasanta Kumar Panigrahi, Boris A. Malomed

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is well known as a quantum optical phenomenon that permits a normally opaque medium to become transparent due to the quantum interference between transition pathways. This work addresses multi-soliton dynamics in an EIT system modeled by the integrable Maxwell–Bloch (MB) equations for a three-level Λ-type atomic configuration. By employing a generalized gauge transformation, we systematically construct explicit N-soliton solutions from the corresponding Lax pair. Explicit forms of one-, two-, three-, and four-soliton solutions are derived and analyzed. The resulting pulse structures reveal various nonlinear phenomena, such as temporal asymmetry, energy trapping, and soliton interactions. They also highlight coherent propagation, elastic collisions, and partial storage of pulses, which have potential implications for the design of quantum memory, slow light, and photonic data transport in EIT media. In addition, the conservation of fundamental physical quantities, such as the excitation norm and Hamiltonian, is used to provide direct evidence of the integrability and stability of the constructed soliton solutions.

arXiv:2510.16364•Photonics•Oct 19, 2025•0 citations

Generation of Solitons and Train of Soliton Pulses in Three Level Λ-Type Cold Atom Electromagnetically Induced Transparency System

Xu Zhao, Xing-Dong Zhao, Lu Zhou

We point out that a train of optical solitons can be generated in a cold-atom system by modulational instability (MI). By numerical simulation, we not only prove that the MI analysis of equations of motion for the atomic-state amplitudes and probe field can be replaced with that of one nonlinear Schrödinger equation, but also give the similarities and differences in the generation of the soliton wave train between the original Maxwell–Schrödinger equations and the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Through the numerical simulation of the original equation of motion, we found that the generation of a single soliton or a couple of solitons can be achieved by adjusting the initial pulse amplitude, and propose a quantitative relationship. These results are different from those in previous reports, which mainly focus on the kind of nonlinear pulse that can propagate stably in an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) medium. The merits and shortages of our scheme are also shown by comparing what with a fiber system. By comparison, the cold-atom system can be a candidate for generating solitons and a train of soliton waves.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan•Dec 4, 2012•4 citations

Electromagnetically induced transparency and controllable group velocity in a five-level atomic system

Lihui Jin, Shangqing Gong, Yueping Niu +1 more

The optical properties of a five-level atomic system composed of a 'Lambda'-type four-level atomic and a tripod four-level atomic systems are investigated. It is found that the behaviors of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and group velocity can be controlled by choosing appropriate parameters with the interacting dark resonances. In particular, when all the fields are on resonance, the slow light at the symmetric transparency windows with a much broader EIT width is obtained by tuning the intensity of the coupling field in comparison with its sub-system, which provides potential applications in quantum storage and retrieval of light.

Chinese Optics Letters•May 10, 2006•0 citations

Coherent control of light field with electromagnetically induced transparency in a dark state Raman coherent tripod system

Yong-Yao Li, HuaRong Zhang, Yongzhu Chen +1 more

The coherent superposition of two-atomic levels induced by coherent population trapping is employed in a standard $Λ$ type scheme to form a tripod-like system. A weak probe pulse scanning across the system is shown to experience a crossover from absorption to transparent and then to amplification. Consequently the group velocity of the probe pulse can be controlled to propagate either as a subluminal, a standard, a superluminal or even a negative speed. It is shown that the propagation behavior of the light field is entirely determined and controlled by the initial states of the coherent superposition.

arXiv:0711.4259•Nov 27, 2007•0 citations
Abstract We consider propagation of a probe pulse in an atomic medium characterized by a combined tripod and Lambda (Λ) atom-light coupling scheme. The scheme involves three atomic ground states coupled to two excited states by five light fields. It is demonstrated that dark states can be formed for such an atom-light coupling. This is essential for formation of the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and slow light. In the limiting cases the scheme reduces to conventional Λ- or N -type atom-light couplings providing the EIT or absorption, respectively. Thus, the atomic system can experience a transition from the EIT to the absorption by changing the amplitudes or phases of control lasers. Subsequently the scheme is employed to analyze the nonlinear pulse propagation using the coupled Maxwell–Bloch equations. It is shown that a generation of stable slow light optical solitons is possible in such a five-level combined tripod and Λ atomic system.
We study the propagation dynamics of a single pair of probe and coupling laser pulses in a three-level cascade atomic medium by numerical solving the Maxwell-Bloch equations for atoms and fields. Influences of the pulse durations, intensity and pulse area of the coupling laser on the probe laser propagation are investigated. We found the conditions that the undistorted probe pulse in such i.e., the effect is established. Under conditions, the ground state population is trapped in a dark state. Full Text: PDF References A. Imamoglu, S.E. Harris, Lasers without inversion: interference of dressed lifetime-broadened states, Opt. Lett. 14 (1989) 1344. CrossRef K.J. Boller, A. Imamoglu, S.E. Harris, Observation of electromagnetically induced transparency, Phys. Rev. Lett. 66 (1991) 2593. CrossRef A.S. Zibrov, M.D. Lukin, D.E. Nikonov, L. Hollberg, M.O. Scully, V.L. Velichansky, and H.G. Robinson, Experimental Demonstration of Laser Oscillation without Population Inversion via Quantum Interference in Rb, Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 (1995) 1499. CrossRef L.V. Hau, S. E. Harris, Z. Dutton, C.H. Bejroozi, speed reduction to 17 metres per second in an ultracold atomic gas, Nature, 397 (1999) 594. CrossRef L.V. Doai, D.X. Khoa, and N.H. Bang, EIT enhanced self-Kerr nonlinearity in the three-level lambda system under Doppler broadening, Phys. Scr. 90 (2015)045502. CrossRef D.X. Khoa, L.V. Doai, D.H. Son, and N.H. Bang, Enhancement of self-Kerr nonlinearity via electromagnetically induced transparency in a five-level cascade system: an analytical approach, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 31, N6 (2014), pp. 1330. CrossRef F.T. Hioe and R. Grobe, Matched Optical Solitary Waves for Three- and Five-Level Systems, Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, (1994) 2559. CrossRef S.E. Harris and Z.F. Luo, Preparation energy for electromagnetically induced transparency, Phys. Rev. A. 52 (1995) R928. CrossRef V. G. Arkhipkin, I.V. Timofeev, Adiabatic propagation of short pulses under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency, Quantum Electronics, 30 (2000) 180. CrossRef M. Kiffner, T. N. Dey, Dynamical control of pulse propagation in electromagnetically induced transparency, Phys. Rev. A. 79 (2009) 023829. CrossRef R. Yu, J. Li, P. Huang, A. Zheng, X. Yang, Dynamic control of light propagation and optical switching through an RF-driven cascade-type atomic medium, Phys. Lett. A. 373 (2009) 2992. CrossRef E. Paspalakis,N. J. Kylstra and P. L. Knight, Propagation and nonlinear generation dynamics in a coherently prepared four-level system, Phys. Rev. A 65 (2002) 053808. CrossRef E. Ignesti, R. Buffa, L. Fini, E. Sali, M. V. Tognetti, S. Cavalieri, Controlling the propagation of broadband light pulses by Induced Transparency, Opt. Commun, 285 (2012) 1185. CrossRef P. R. Bermanand C. H. Raymond Ooi, Pulse propagation in a medium of ?-type atoms, Phys. Rev. A 86 (2012), 053812. CrossRef G. Buica, T. Nakajima, Propagation of two short laser pulse trains in a ?-type three-level medium under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency, Opt. Commun. 332 (2014) 59. CrossRef L. V. Doai, P. V. Trong, D. X. Khoa, and Ng. H. Bang, Electromagnetically induced transparency in five-level cascade scheme of 85Rb atoms: An analytical approach, Optik, 125 (2014) 3666?3669. CrossRef J.H. Eberly, Transmission of dressed fields in three-level media, Quantum Semiclass. Opt. 7 (1995) 373. CrossRef M.D. Crisp, Propagation of Small-Area Pulses of Coherent Light through a Resonant Medium, Phys. Rev. A 1 (1970) 1604. CrossRef
We study the propagation dynamics of a single pair of probe and coupling laser pulses in a three-level cascade atomic medium by numerical solving the Maxwell-Bloch equations for atoms and fields. Influences of the pulse durations, intensity and pulse area of the coupling laser on the probe laser propagation are investigated. We found the conditions that the undistorted probe pulse in such medium, i.e., the EIT effect is established. Under EIT conditions, the ground state population is trapped in a dark state. Full Text: PDF References A. Imamoglu, S.E. Harris, "Lasers without inversion: interference of dressed lifetime-broadened states", Opt. Lett. 14 (1989) 1344. CrossRef K.J. Boller, A. Imamoglu, S.E. Harris, "Observation of electromagnetically induced transparency", Phys. Rev. Lett. 66 (1991) 2593. CrossRef A.S. Zibrov, M.D. Lukin, D.E. Nikonov, L. Hollberg, M.O. Scully, V.L. Velichansky, and H.G. Robinson, "Experimental Demonstration of Laser Oscillation without Population Inversion via Quantum Interference in Rb", Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 (1995) 1499. CrossRef L.V. Hau, S. E. Harris, Z. Dutton, C.H. Bejroozi, "Light speed reduction to 17 metres per second in an ultracold atomic gas", Nature, 397 (1999) 594. CrossRef L.V. Doai, D.X. Khoa, and N.H. Bang, "EIT enhanced self-Kerr nonlinearity in the three-level lambda system under Doppler broadening", Phys. Scr. 90 (2015)045502. CrossRef D.X. Khoa, L.V. Doai, D.H. Son, and N.H. Bang, "Enhancement of self-Kerr nonlinearity via electromagnetically induced transparency in a five-level cascade system: an analytical approach", J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 31, N6 (2014), pp. 1330. CrossRef F.T. Hioe and R. Grobe, "Matched Optical Solitary Waves for Three- and Five-Level Systems", Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, (1994) 2559. CrossRef S.E. Harris and Z.F. Luo, "Preparation energy for electromagnetically induced transparency", Phys. Rev. A. 52 (1995) R928. CrossRef V. G. Arkhipkin, I.V. Timofeev, "Adiabatic propagation of short pulses under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency", Quantum Electronics, 30 (2000) 180. CrossRef M. Kiffner, T. N. Dey, "Dynamical control of pulse propagation in electromagnetically induced transparency", Phys. Rev. A. 79 (2009) 023829. CrossRef R. Yu, J. Li, P. Huang, A. Zheng, X. Yang, "Dynamic control of light propagation and optical switching through an RF-driven cascade-type atomic medium", Phys. Lett. A. 373 (2009) 2992. CrossRef E. Paspalakis,N. J. Kylstra and P. L. Knight, "Propagation and nonlinear generation dynamics in a coherently prepared four-level system", Phys. Rev. A 65 (2002) 053808. CrossRef E. Ignesti, R. Buffa, L. Fini, E. Sali, M. V. Tognetti, S. Cavalieri, "Controlling the propagation of broadband light pulses by Electromagnetically Induced Transparency", Opt. Commun, 285 (2012) 1185. CrossRef P. R. Bermanand C. H. Raymond Ooi, "Pulse propagation in a medium of ?-type atoms", Phys. Rev. A 86 (2012), 053812. CrossRef G. Buica, T. Nakajima, "Propagation of two short laser pulse trains in a ?-type three-level medium under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency", Opt. Commun. 332 (2014) 59. CrossRef L. V. Doai, P. V. Trong, D. X. Khoa, and Ng. H. Bang, "Electromagnetically induced transparency in five-level cascade scheme of 85Rb atoms: An analytical approach", Optik, 125 (2014) 3666?3669. CrossRef J.H. Eberly, "Transmission of dressed fields in three-level media", Quantum Semiclass. Opt. 7 (1995) 373. CrossRef M.D. Crisp, "Propagation of Small-Area Pulses of Coherent Light through a Resonant Medium", Phys. Rev. A 1 (1970) 1604. CrossRef
Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is well known as a quantum optical phenomenon that permits a normally opaque medium to become transparent due to the quantum interference between transition pathways. This work addresses multi-soliton dynamics in an EIT system modeled by the integrable Maxwell–Bloch (MB) equations for a three-level Λ-type atomic configuration. By employing a generalized gauge transformation, we systematically construct explicit N-soliton solutions from the corresponding Lax pair. Explicit forms of one-, two-, three-, and four-soliton solutions are derived and analyzed. The resulting pulse structures reveal various nonlinear phenomena, such as temporal asymmetry, energy trapping, and soliton interactions. They also highlight coherent propagation, elastic collisions, and partial storage of pulses, which have potential implications for the design of quantum memory, slow light, and photonic data transport in EIT media. In addition, the conservation of fundamental physical quantities, such as the excitation norm and Hamiltonian, is used to provide direct evidence of the integrability and stability of the constructed soliton solutions.
We point out that a train of optical solitons can be generated in a cold-atom system by modulational instability (MI). By numerical simulation, we not only prove that the MI analysis of equations of motion for the atomic-state amplitudes and probe field can be replaced with that of one nonlinear Schrödinger equation, but also give the similarities and differences in the generation of the soliton wave train between the original Maxwell–Schrödinger equations and the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Through the numerical simulation of the original equation of motion, we found that the generation of a single soliton or a couple of solitons can be achieved by adjusting the initial pulse amplitude, and propose a quantitative relationship. These results are different from those in previous reports, which mainly focus on the kind of nonlinear pulse that can propagate stably in an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) medium. The merits and shortages of our scheme are also shown by comparing what with a fiber system. By comparison, the cold-atom system can be a candidate for generating solitons and a train of soliton waves.
The optical properties of a five-level atomic system composed of a 'Lambda'-type four-level atomic and a tripod four-level atomic systems are investigated. It is found that the behaviors of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and group velocity can be controlled by choosing appropriate parameters with the interacting dark resonances. In particular, when all the fields are on resonance, the slow light at the symmetric transparency windows with a much broader EIT width is obtained by tuning the intensity of the coupling field in comparison with its sub-system, which provides potential applications in quantum storage and retrieval of light.
The coherent superposition of two-atomic levels induced by coherent population trapping is employed in a standard ΛΛΛ type scheme to form a tripod-like system. A weak probe pulse scanning across the system is shown to experience a crossover from absorption to transparent and then to amplification. Consequently the group velocity of the probe pulse can be controlled to propagate either as a subluminal, a standard, a superluminal or even a negative speed. It is shown that the propagation behavior of the light field is entirely determined and controlled by the initial states of the coherent superposition.