Slow and Stored Light in Atomic Ensembles

Misha Klein, C. Y. T. Wang, I. Novikova +2 more

Mason Klein

Irina V. Novikova, Alexey Vyacheslavovich Gorshkov, David F. Phillips +3 more

We present a preliminary experimental study of optimized slow and stored light pulses in Rb vapor cells. We study the effciency of light storage as a function of pulse duration, storage time, retrieval field intensity, etc. We demonstrate a procedure based on time reversal for the optimization of the effciency for storage of light in atomic ensembles suggested in a recent theoretical paper [A.V. Gorshkov et al., e-print archive quant-ph/0604037 (2006)]. Experimental results are in a good qualitative agreement with theoretical calculations based on a simplified three-level model.

J. P. Marangos

Irina V. Novikova, R. L. Walsworth, Yanhong Xiao

Abstract This paper reviews recent efforts to realize a high‐efficiency memory for optical pulses using slow and stored light based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in ensembles of warm atoms in vapor cells. After a brief summary of basic continuous‐wave and dynamic EIT properties, studies using weak classical signal pulses in optically dense coherent media are discussed, including optimization strategies for stored light efficiency and pulse‐shape control, and modification of EIT and slow/stored light spectral properties due to atomic motion. Quantum memory demonstrations using both single photons and pulses of squeezed light are then reviewed. Finally a brief comparison with other approaches is presented.

Jesse L. Everett, Daniel B. Higginbottom, Geoff Campbell +2 more

Abstract When ensembles of atoms interact with coherent light fields, a great many interesting and useful effects can be observed. In particular, the group velocity of the coherent fields can be modified dramatically. Electromagnetically induced transparency is perhaps the best known example, giving rise to very slow light. Careful tuning of the optical fields can also produce stored light where a light field is mapped completely into a coherence of the atomic ensemble. In contrast to stored light, in which the optical field is extinguished, stationary light is a bright field of light with a group velocity of zero. Stationary light has applications in situations where it is important to maintain an optical field, such as attempts to engineer large nonlinear interactions. In this paper, the stationary light demonstrations published to date are reviewed and a unified theoretical framework that describes the experimental observations is provided. Possible applications of stationary light are also discussed, with a particular focus on all‐optical phase gates for quantum information technology.