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Optics Express

Quantum theory of superluminal pulse propagation

Peter W. Milonni, K. Furuya, R. Y. Chiao

Published Jan 15, 2001• 20 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We consider the propagation in a dielectric medium of radiation emitted by a single-atom source. The source and dielectric atoms are assumed to be two-state systems, and the emitted light is incident on an ideal broadband detector. It is shown that the peak probability for producing a ;;click" at the detector can occur sooner than it could if there were no material medium between it and the source atom.

DOI
10.1364/oe.8.000059

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We consider the propagation in a dielectric medium of radiation emitted by a single-atom source. The source and dielectric atoms are assumed to be two-state systems, and the emitted light is incident on an ideal broadband detector. It is shown that the peak probability for producing a ;;click" at the detector can occur sooner than it could if there were no material medium between it and the source atom.
When a dielectric medium has a finite temperature, the atoms that constitute the medium are in a state of incessant motion. Propagation of a light pulse through such a medium is discussed theoretically in this paper in the classical domain. When the pulse is in resonance with the medium, it is found that the medium becomes dispersiveless when its temperature reaches a critical value, and that as the medium's temperature increases from below to above the critical value, the pulse's propagation changes from superluminal (subluminal) to subluminal (superluminal).
We calculate the effects of normal transmission through an amplifying dielectric slab on the properties of an incident pulse of light. The transmitted pulse shows shifts in peak position and additional lengthening or shortening with respect to the unamplified incident pulse. The magnitudes of these effects are generally larger than those of the corresponding changes that occur in transparent or attenuating slabs. They are interpreted in terms of the interference of multiply reflected contributions to the transmitted pulse. The theory is valid for pulses of nonclassical light, but the same reshaping occurs for appropriate pulses of classical light.