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Journal of Modern Optics

Negatively refracting atomic vapour

Jian Qi Shen

Published Sep 22, 2006• 26 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A new mechanism for realizing negative refractive index with a four-level atomic system is suggested. The explicit expressions for the electric permittivity and magnetic permeability at probe frequency are presented. It is shown that there is a frequency band in which the four-level photonic-resonant atomic vapour may exhibit simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability, and that such an atomic vapour may become a left-handed material (negatively refracting medium). Compared with the previous schemes to realize negative refraction within the framework of classical electromagnetic theory, the most remarkable features of the present scenario are as follows: (i) isotropic material with microscopic structure units at atomic-scale level, (ii) negative refraction in visible and infrared frequency bands, (iii) controllable manipulation by external fields and (iv) based on quantum coherence in a multilevel atomic system.

DOI
10.1080/09500340600812966

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A new mechanism for realizing negative refractive index with a four-level atomic system is suggested. The explicit expressions for the electric permittivity and magnetic permeability at probe frequency are presented. It is shown that there is a frequency band in which the four-level photonic-resonant atomic vapour may exhibit simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability, and that such an atomic vapour may become a left-handed material (negatively refracting medium). Compared with the previous schemes to realize negative refraction within the framework of classical electromagnetic theory, the most remarkable features of the present scenario are as follows: (i) isotropic material with microscopic structure units at atomic-scale level, (ii) negative refraction in visible and infrared frequency bands, (iii) controllable manipulation by external fields and (iv) based on quantum coherence in a multilevel atomic system.
A new quantum optical mechanism to realize simultaneously negative electric permittivity and magnetic permeability is suggested. In order to obtain a negative permeability, we choose a proper atomic configuration that can dramatically enhance the contribution of the magnetic-dipole allowed transition via the atomic phase coherence. It is shown that the atomic system chosen with proper optical parameters can give rise to striking electromagnetic responses (leading to a negative refractive index) and that the atomic vapour becomes a left-handed medium in an optical frequency band. Differing from the previous schemes of artificial composite metamaterials (based on classical electromagnetic theory) to achieve the left-handed materials, which consist of anisotropic millimetre-scale composite structure units, the left-handed atomic vapour presented here is isotropic and homogeneous at the atomic-scale level. Such an advantage may be valuable in realizing the superlens (and hence perfect image) with left-handed atomic vapour.
A scenario for realizing simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability of a two-photon quantum-coherent atomic vapor is suggested in order to achieve a left-handed atomic medium with a negative refractive index. One of the remarkable features of the present scheme is that it can lead to a controllable manipulation of the negative refractive index of the atomic vapor. Since the electric- and magnetic-dipole allowed transitions of atoms can be excited by visible and infrared lightwaves, the refractive index of the atomic vapor can exhibit its negative refractive index at optical and near-optical frequency bands. This may be a new scheme to fabricate a negatively refracting material based on the quantum optical approach. Such a three-dimensionally isotropic negative refractive index at visible and infrared wavelengths induced by the two-photon-resonant quantum coherence would find a potential application in fabrication of superlenses for perfect imaging and subwavelength focusing.
A closed four-level system in atomic vapour is proposed, which is made to possess left handedness by using the technique of quantum coherence. The density matrix method is utilized in view of the rotating-wave approximation and the effect of a local field in dense gas. The numerical simulation result shows that the negative permittivity and the negative permeability of the medium can be achieved simultaneously (i.e. the left handedness) in a wider frequency band under appropriate parameter conditions. Furthermore, when analysing the dispersion property of the left-handed material, we can find that the probe beam propagation can be controlled from superluminal to subluminal, or vice versa via changing the detuning of the probe field.
A three-level Lambda-configuration atomic vapour may exhibit simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability in the optical frequency band, and an isotropic left-handed vapour medium could therefore be realized within the framework of quantum optics. One of the most remarkable features of the present scheme is that both the refractive index and the photon helicity reversal inside the vapour can be controllably manipulated by an external coupling light field. The phenomenological Hamiltonian that describes the process of helicity reversal is constructed and the time-dependent Schrödinger equation governing the time evolution of the polarization states of the lightwave is solved by means of the Lewis–Riesenfeld invariant theory. The transition between the polarization states (and hence the accompanied photon helicity reversal), which is exactly analogous to the transition operation between bits in digital circuit, may be valuable for the development of new techniques in quantum optics and would have potential applications in information technology.