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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

The impact of decay-induced interference on transient behaviours of the dispersion and the absorption

Mostafa Sahrai, Mohammad Mahmoudi

Published Nov 23, 2009• 19 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The dynamical behaviour of the dispersion and the absorption in a nearly equispaced ladder-type three-level atomic system is investigated. It is shown that in the presence of decay-induced interference the probe dispersion and absorption are phase dependent. The required switching times for switching the group velocity of a probe field from subluminal to superluminal pulse propagation is then discussed. We find that applying an incoherent pumping field provides an additional control parameter for switching the probe absorption to probe gain.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/42/23/235503

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The dynamical behaviour of the dispersion and the absorption in a nearly equispaced ladder-type three-level atomic system is investigated. It is shown that in the presence of decay-induced interference the probe dispersion and absorption are phase dependent. The required switching times for switching the group velocity of a probe field from subluminal to superluminal pulse propagation is then discussed. We find that applying an incoherent pumping field provides an additional control parameter for switching the probe absorption to probe gain.
The effects of spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) on the propagation of a weak probe pulse are investigated in a ladder-type atomic system. Due to SGC, the properties of the dispersion and the absorption of a three-level ladder-type system are changed greatly. With proper parameters, the system can produce normal and anomalous dispersion regions in the gain region. The effects of the incoherent pumping and the relative phase on the group velocity are also studied. They all can be used as switches to manipulate the group velocity of the weak probe field from gain-assisted sub- to superluminance.
The light propagation of a probe field in a three-level Λ system with incoherent pumping has been studied when both dynamically induced coherence (DIC) and spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) play a significant role. We have investigated the group velocity of probe field and hence the group index of a three-level Λ system with incoherent pumping when both DIC and SGC play a significant role. We have shown that by varying the probe field Rabi frequency one can control the interference between these two coherences which leads to different nonlinear response (amplification without inversion, electromagnetically induced transparency and electromagnetically induced absorption) leading to different (positive and negative) dispersion. Hence control over switching of group velocity from subluminal to superluminal and vice versa can be achieved. We have also shown that when the contributions from both the coherences are comparable, the dependence of group velocity of probe field in a three-level Λ system with incoherent pumping on phase difference between probe and coherent fields is different from that obtained under the weak probe field condition. Going beyond the weak probe field approximation we have derived analytical expressions for group velocity and hence the group index in the steady state limit (keeping all orders of system parameters) to generalize the analysis, and these expressions can be used for any set of system parameters without any restriction. The numerical values obtained by solving the density matrix equations agree well with these exact analytical values at a large time limit. We have proposed a scheme for experimental realization of EIT and hence subluminal light propagation in molecules by invoking spontaneously generated coherence.
Propagation of an electromagnetic pulse through a dielectric slab doped with three-level ladder-type atomic systems is discussed. It is shown that the group velocity of the reflected and transmitted pulses can be switched from subluminal to superluminal light propagation by the thickness of the slab or the intensity of the coupling field. Furthermore, it is found that, in the presence of quantum interference, the reflected and transmitted pulses are completely phase dependent. So, the group velocity of the reflected and transmitted pulses can only be switched from subluminal to superluminal by adjusting the relative phase of the applied fields.
We examine the propagation of a weak probe light through a coherently driven $\mathsf{Y}\mathsf{\text{\ensuremath{-}}}\mathsf{type}$ system. Under the condition that the excited atomic levels decay via the same vacuum modes, the effects of quantum interference in decay channels are considered. It is found that the interference in decay channels results in a lossless anomalous dispersion between two gain peaks. We demonstrate that the probe pulse propagation can, in principle, be switched from subluminal to superluminal due to the decay-induced interference. We also show that the system exhibits a high index of refraction with negligible absorption for the driving fields. A dressed-state picture of the atom-light interaction is described to explain the numerical results.
We theoretically study the coherent interaction of a tripod-type atomic system with three laser fields, i.e., one probe and two coupling, or two probe and one coupling field. Our analytical and numerical results show that, when all three fields are on two-photon resonance, in addition to the Rabi frequencies of the coupling fields, the probe group velocities also depend on the spontaneous decay rates and the initial population distribution. So we can manipulate the probe pulses to achieve controllable ultraslow group velocities by preparing different initial atomic states. With an incoherent pump field applied, a narrow transparent window accompanied by abnormal dispersion may occur in the probe absorption spectrum, which then allows us to switch a probe pulse from ultraslow to superluminal propagation.