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Physical Review A

Stopping and storing light coherently

Mehmet Fatih Yanik, Shanhui Fan

Published Jan 5, 2005• 113 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a general analysis for the criteria to stop and store light coherently. We show that a light pulse can be stopped in any physical system, provided that (i) the system bandwidth can be compressed to zero; (ii) the system has sufficient degrees of freedom to accommodate the pulse, and the bandwidth compression occurs while the pulse is in the system; and (iii) the bandwidth compression is done reversibly in an adiabatic fashion that preserves the phase space and the information in the original photon pulse during the entire duration of the stopping process. Based upon this general criterion, we present a brief discussion of stopping-light schemes using atomic resonances, and a detailed analysis of the all-optical scheme that we recently proposed. We show that the all-optical scheme can achieve arbitrarily small group velocities for large bandwidth pulses, and opens up new opportunities in both fundamental sciences and technological applications.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.71.013803

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We present a general analysis for the criteria to stop and store light coherently. We show that a light pulse can be stopped in any physical system, provided that (i) the system bandwidth can be compressed to zero; (ii) the system has sufficient degrees of freedom to accommodate the pulse, and the bandwidth compression occurs while the pulse is in the system; and (iii) the bandwidth compression is done reversibly in an adiabatic fashion that preserves the phase space and the information in the original photon pulse during the entire duration of the stopping process. Based upon this general criterion, we present a brief discussion of stopping-light schemes using atomic resonances, and a detailed analysis of the all-optical scheme that we recently proposed. We show that the all-optical scheme can achieve arbitrarily small group velocities for large bandwidth pulses, and opens up new opportunities in both fundamental sciences and technological applications.
We show that light pulses can be stopped and stored coherently, with an all-optical adiabatic and reversible pulse bandwidth compression process. Such a process overcomes the fundamental bandwidth-delay constraint in optics and can generate arbitrarily small group velocities for any light pulse with a given bandwidth, without any coherent or resonant light-matter interactions. We exhibit this process in optical resonators, where the bandwidth compression is accomplished only by small refractive-index modulations performed at moderate speeds.
We show that light pulses can be stopped and stored all-optically, with a process that involves an adiabatic and reversible pulse bandwidth compression occurring entirely in the optical domain. Such a process overcomes the fundamental bandwidth-delay constraint in optics, and can generate arbitrarily small group velocities for any light pulse with a given bandwidth, without the use of any coherent or resonant light-matter interactions. We exhibit this process in optical resonator systems, where the pulse bandwidth compression is accomplished only by small refractive index modulations performed at moderate speeds. The optically achievable ultra low speeds can also generate extremely large non-linearities using non-resonant interactions, and thus enable decoherence-free single photon quantum gates.
We show that the use of tunable photonic structures opens up unprecedented possibilities in information processing. In particular, we introduce an all-optical adiabatic bandwidth compression and frequency conversion process that overcomes the classical bandwidth-delay constraint in optics. This process requires only very small index modulations (δn/n<10-4) performed at moderate speeds, and yet can alter the spectrum of a photon almost at will. As examples of this process, we show how light pulses can be stopped and stored all-optically in multitude of systems without using any resonant or coherent electronic interactions. We also show how light pulses can be time-reversed using only linear optical elements and modulators. Such systems open up new opportunities in both fundamental sciences and technological applications.
Recently there has been a considerable interest in metamaterial waveguide structures capable of dramatically slowing down or, even, completely stopping light. Here, we shall explain in some detail the working principle behind the deceleration and/or stopping of light in metamaterial structures, and review the various, metamaterial-enabled, methods that have been proposed thus far towards achieving such a goal. Further, we will concisely describe how one can construct zero-loss metamaterials over a continuous and broad (but not infinite) range of frequencies, which is an essential prerequisite for any slow-light system. Moreover, it will be explained that inside such waveguide structures light can in principle be stopped (zero group velocity, vg = 0) even in the presence of losses. By nature, metamaterialenabled schemes for stopping/storing light invoke solid-state materials and, as such, are not subject to low-temperature or atomic coherence limitations. Furthermore, these methods simultaneously allow for broad bandwidth operation, since they do not rely on group index resonances; large delay-bandwidth products, since a wave packet can, in principle, be completely stopped and buffered indefinitely; and (for the case, in particular, where a negative-index metamaterial is used) high, almost 100%, in/out-coupling efficiencies. Thus, we conclude that these methods for trapping photons, which can be realised using existing technology, could open the way to a multitude of hybrid optoelectronic devices to be used in 'quantum information' processing, communication networks and signal processors and may conceivably herald a new realm of combined metamaterials and slow light research.
Coherent interactions of laser light with atomic ensembles allow one to modify dispersive properties of a medium and lead to new optical phenomena. Studies of the controlled light propagation and storing in such media have recently become a dynamically developing field of research motivated both by the fundamental character of the processes and by potential applications. This article briefly reviews basic theoretical approach to the dynamics of the propagation of laser pulses in optically modified media. The method and the physical processes are discussed that allow one to slow down the group velocity of laser pulse to zero (stopping of light), to transfer the state of a light pulse to atomic coherences and to restore the pulse. The interpretation of these phenomena in the formalism of dark-state polaritons is presented. Examples of possible coherent manipulations on a stored light are also discussed.