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Physical Review A

Absorption imaging of electromagnetically induced transparency in cold sodium atoms

Masaharu Mitsunaga, Makoto Yamashita, Hironobu Inoue

Published Jun 16, 2000• 27 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Transmissivity of up to 200% has been observed in an absorption imaging study of electromagnetically induced transparency in cold sodium atoms, when a focused coupling beam is applied near the edge of the atom cloud. The signal behavior strongly depends on the frequency difference between the probe beam and the coupling beam. Such high transmissivity can be attributed to the strong focusing effect of the probe beam, when it propagates in a medium with spatially inhomogeneous refractive index induced by the coupling beam. A detailed numerical analysis based upon the Maxwell propagation equations is presented.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.62.013817

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Transmissivity of up to 200% has been observed in an absorption imaging study of electromagnetically induced transparency in cold sodium atoms, when a focused coupling beam is applied near the edge of the atom cloud. The signal behavior strongly depends on the frequency difference between the probe beam and the coupling beam. Such high transmissivity can be attributed to the strong focusing effect of the probe beam, when it propagates in a medium with spatially inhomogeneous refractive index induced by the coupling beam. A detailed numerical analysis based upon the Maxwell propagation equations is presented.
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In an ordinary electromagnetically-induced-transparency (EIT) experiment using a hot sodium vapor, we have observed a probe gain up to 32 in the presence of a coupling beam in an otherwise totally opaque (transmissivity $\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}$) situation, increasing the transmissivity by 6 orders of magnitude. This gain is attributable to parametric amplification (PA), accompanying the Stokes (or anti-Stokes) wave with similar output intensity, and is critically dependent upon the atomic density and the coupling beam power. Experimental and theoretical analyses have revealed that, while the EIT picture is valid for relatively low atomic densities, the PA picture becomes dominant for high atomic densities and high coupling powers. We have also found that the parametric coupling between the probe and Stokes waves can be nullified by the proper choice of the coupling detuning frequency, due to destructive interference of two elementary processes.
We study the self-imaging and image-transforming properties of a probe field in a cold atomic medium with electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). Due to the similarities between the gradient-index medium and the inhomogeneous index distribution of an EIT medium under the conditions of a negative probe detuning and a Gaussian control field, we find based on analytical investigations that there exists a kind of electromagnetically induced self-imaging phenomenon in cold atomic media. Numerical simulations clearly show that electromagnetically induced self-imaging is observable and controllable. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.
We study the self-imaging and image-transforming properties of a probe field in a cold atomic medium with electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). Due to the similarities between the gradient-index medium and the inhomogeneous index distribution of an EIT medium under the conditions of a negative probe detuning and a Gaussian control field, we find based on analytical investigations that there exists a kind of electromagnetically induced self-imaging phenomenon in cold atomic media. Numerical simulations clearly show that electromagnetically induced self-imaging is observable and controllable.
We have theoretically and experimentally investigated coherent pump-probe spectra for the 3S1/23{S}_{1/2}3S1/2​-3P1/23{P}_{1/2}3P1/2​ D1D1D1 transition of sodium atomic vapor. Probe transmission spectra in the presence of a coupling beam exhibit dramatic changes depending on experimental conditions. In the weak-excitation, low-atomic-density limit, the spectra are mainly characterized by electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and saturated absorption, but for the strong-excitation, high-density case, parametric amplification (PA) is dominant, featuring high probe gain and Stokes-wave generation. We have developed a theory that can explain these two seemingly totally different phenomena (EIT and PA) within the same theoretical framework by manipulating a few experimentally controllable parameters, and have successfully reproduced the observed spectra. Other than the main spectral features, many other interesting physical processes have been predicted and observed.