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Physical Review A

White-light cavity with competing linear and nonlinear dispersions

Haibin Wu, Min Xiao

Published Mar 6, 2008• 40 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate that broad, tunable bandwidth of an optical ring cavity can be achieved by making use of the negative dispersion of the Kerr nonlinear refractive index in the three-level electromagnetically-induced transparency medium. For a given cavity field intensity, the white-light cavity condition can always be satisfied by choosing the appropriate coupling beam parameters. This white-light cavity scheme can be used effectively to achieve large buildup intensity in the signal-recycling cavity with a broad bandwidth in future advanced gravitational wave detectors.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.77.031801

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We experimentally demonstrate that broad, tunable bandwidth of an optical ring cavity can be achieved by making use of the negative dispersion of the Kerr nonlinear refractive index in the three-level electromagnetically-induced transparency medium. For a given cavity field intensity, the white-light cavity condition can always be satisfied by choosing the appropriate coupling beam parameters. This white-light cavity scheme can be used effectively to achieve large buildup intensity in the signal-recycling cavity with a broad bandwidth in future advanced gravitational wave detectors.
Linear absorption and dispersion properties, as well as Kerr nonlinear index, of three-level atomic systems can be greatly modified under the condition of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). By placing such EIT atoms in a vapor cell inside an optical ring cavity, the cavity transmission spectrum can be altered and controlled. We show that the cavity transmission linewidth can be narrowed substantially comparing to the empty cavity linewidth due to the sharp normal (linear) dispersion associated with the EIT resonance (which can be considered as photons traveling with a slower speed inside the optical cavity). On the other hand, the Kerr nonlinear dispersion has the opposite slope comparing to the linear dispersion near the EIT resonance, which can be used to balance the linear dispersion and lead to total anomalous dispersion for the intracavity atomic medium (with ``superluminal photon speed'' inside the optical cavity). Such anomalous dispersion in the intracavity medium makes the cavity transmission linewidth broader than the empty cavity linewidth. Under certain parameters, the so called ``white-light cavity'' condition can be satisfied, which makes the cavity transmission linewidth very broad and, at the same time, have high cavity transmission. Such modified and controlled cavity transmission linewidths can have many interesting applications in frequency locking, cavity ring-down spectroscopy, nonlinear optical spectroscopy, cavity-QED, and even recycling cavity of the gravitational-wave detector.
Recently, the design of a white-light cavity has been proposed using negative dispersion in an intracavity medium to make the cavity resonate over a large range of frequencies and still maintain a high cavity buildup. This Letter presents the first demonstration of this effect in a free-space cavity. The negative dispersion of the intracavity medium is caused by bifrequency Raman gain in an atomic vapor cell. A significantly broad cavity response over a bandwidth greater than 20 MHz has been observed. A key application of this device would be in enhancing the sensitivity-bandwidth product of the next generation gravitational wave detectors that make use of the so-called signal-recycling mirror.
It is well known that there is a bottleneck for nonlinear all-optical switching, namely, the switching power and the switching time cannot be lowered simultaneously. A lower switching power requires a resonator with a high quality (QQQ) factor, but leads to a longer switching time. We propose to overcome this bottleneck by replacing the nonlinear cavity in such an all-optical switch by a white-light cavity. This can be done by doping three-level atoms in the ring resonator and applying incoherent pump and coherent driving fields on it. The white-light cavity possesses broadband resonance in a linear region. Therefore, for the incident pulse, a broad range of frequency components can take part in the nonlinear process, and so it requires lower power to achieve switching compared to the conventional ring resonator. On the other hand, the refractive index of a white-light cavity has negative dispersion, leading to a fast group velocity. This results in a shorter time to build up the resonant response, yielding a short switching time.
We experimentally demonstrate cavity linewidth control by manipulating dispersion of the intracavity medium. By making use of the dramatic change of Kerr nonlinearity near electromagnetically induced transparency resonance in a three-level atomic system, the cavity transmission linewidth can be greatly modified. As the cavity input intensity increases, the cavity linewidth changes from below to above empty cavity linewidth, corresponding to subluminal and superluminal photon propagation in the cavity, respectively.
Summary form only given. We report on the experimental realization of negative-dispersion in nevertheless nonabsorbing media. Such media are relevant for various reasons. They may be used, for example, inside a cavity to increase its bandwidth without sacrificing its buildup (white light cavity). This could be a promising application for gravitational wave detectors. Furthermore, white-light cavities are real distance measurement devices, because residual frequency noise of the laser used to measure the cavity length does not effect the measurement.
Summary form only given. The reduced absorption and enhanced nonlinearity in a three-level electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) system are very important in achieving an effective all-optical switching action. The Kerr-nonlinear index of refraction of a three-level EIT medium can be greatly enhanced near resonance due to atomic coherence induced in such a system in comparison with a two-level atomic system, as we have shown by using an optical ring cavity. Both the magnitude and sign of the Kerr-nonlinear index change dramatically for different frequency detunings of the controlling (or coupling) or cavity (or probe) field. Bistability and dynamic instability occur when such a three-level /spl Lambda/-type EIT system is placed inside an optical ring cavity and the controlling and cavity input intensities to exceed certain threshold values. In this paper, we present a recent experimental demonstration of controlling the cavity output intensity by modulating the frequency detuning of the controlling beam.