Slow Light in a Collection of Collisionally Broadened Two-Level Atoms
R. W. Bovd, Nikolay N. Lepeshkin, Petros Zerom
The two-level atom can, for good reason, be considered the basic material structure for the study of quantum optics [1]. The two-level atom has played a fundamental role in studies of physical processes, including self-induced transparency (SIT), photon echoes, optical nutation, saturation spectroscopy, and, most recently, slow- and fast-light research. This latter field has recently been the subject of great activity, as researchers have learned how to utilize various physical processes to exert control over the velocity of propagation of light pulses through material systems [2]. This interest stems both from the intellectual intrigue in situations in which the velocity of light can be speeded up or slowed down by many orders of magnitude and the promise that such techniques might be useful for applications in fields such as telecommunications and optical computing [3‐6]. Most of the recent work in this field has made use of the process of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) to induce a narrow transparency region in an otherwise highly absorbing optical material [7, 8]. The rapid variation of the refractive index n associated with this transparency window then leads to a strong modification of the group velocity n g in accordance with the standard relation
Laser Physics•Jan 1, 2005•4 citations