In recent years reports on very interesting media showing unusual optical properties have appeared in literature on atomic physics. The source of these properties is quantum interference revealed in the process of interaction of atoms with coherent light. The basis of this process is the fact that if there are at least two possibilities of realization of the process of absorption or emission of light in a given medium leading to the same final state, they interfere with each other. The result of the interference depends on relative phases of the interfering processes. However, for the interference to be observable the above phases must be well determined. The phase coherence of the medium is thus a condition necessary for obtaining the optical properties characteristic of quantum interference. This fact has been underlined by the name phaseonium given to these media by Marlan O. Scully. Recently observed unusual optical properties of a phase-coherent atomic medium (phaseonium) is explained using very simple models.
In recent years reports on very interesting media showing unusual optical properties have appeared in literature on atomic physics. The source of these properties is quantum interference revealed in the process of interaction of atoms with coherent light. The basis of this process is the fact that if there are at least two possibilities of realization of the process of absorption or emission of light in a given medium leading to the same final state, they interfere with each other. The result of the interference depends on relative phases of the interfering processes. However, for the interference to be observable the above phases must be well determined. The phase coherence of the medium is thus a condition necessary for obtaining the optical properties characteristic of quantum interference. This fact has been underlined by the name phaseonium given to these media by Marlan O. Scully. Recently observed unusual optical properties of a phase-coherent atomic medium (phaseonium) is explained using very simple models.
. We investigate the possibility of enhancing the refractive properties in a nonabsorbing medium via two fundamentally different schemes. First there is the coherent preparation of three-level atoms where absorption is cancelled due to destructive interference while the refractivity is not hampered in the same way. There also is the possibility of cancelling absorption via a mixture of absorbing and emitting two-level atoms without the need of a coherent preparation. One drawback here, however, is high sensitivity to Doppler broadening, collisions and number fluctuations which makes this scheme practically infeasible. Introduction The various application of atomic coherence in laser physics and quantum optics has recently attracted considerable interest. It has been shown that atomic coherence can lead to absorption cancellation (Alzetta, et al., 1976; and Gray, et al., 1979) and quenching of spontaneous emission noise (Scully, 1985). More recently, the notion of noninversion lasing has received attention, and it was shown that atomic coherence leading to cancellation of absorption does not necessarily influence emission (Harris, 1989; Scully, et al., 1989; and Kocharovskaya and Khanin, 1988). There has been extensive research on many schemes that involve coherence between an upper or lower level laser doublet due to various means: microwave or Raman coherent coupling and spontaneous and incoherent pumping coupling just to name the most important.
The control of the optical properties of a medium by atomic coherence and quantum interference effects is an important area of research, not only for its fundamental aspects in the understanding of radiation and matter interaction, but also for its potential applications in the design of optical devices. Atomic coherence can emerge in a medium through the coupling of a strong coherent field to an atomic transition. This coupling affects the optical properties of the medium in a very interesting ways. For example, it may yield light amplification without population inversion. Also, it can modify the traditional dispersion of an optical medium in such a way that maximum variations of the refractive index occur around a spectral region of vanishing absorption. In the first part of this work we investigate some fundamental aspects of this coherent dynamics. We investigate how this non-inversion gain is affected by the presence of atomic motion. The coherent interaction between atom and radiation can lead to the interference between optical paths of decay. We report on an atomic setting where the interference structures depend upon the phase of the coherent field, an new effect which is absent in other resonance fluorescent phenomena. As a potential application, we investigate a novel approach for the modulation of optical signal. This approach consists of injecting atomic coherence in the medium in order to tailor its optical properties so it is a more suitable medium for modulation.
Quantum interference in atomic media has elicited interest for a very wide range of investigations and applications. As well as being a fascinating effect in itself, it also found applications in spectroscopy, nonlinear optics and has recently been drawing attention in the field of quantum optics for the realisation of sources of entangled photons, optical switching, and quantum information storage. The work presented in this thesis consists of two main projects centred around the theme of quantum interference in atomic processes. As cooled atomic vapours provide favourable conditions for the investigation of coherent phenomena, a magneto-optical trap was built for the future study of quantum interference in four-level link- ages. The number of trapped atoms is estimated to be ≈ 8 × 10^8, and the density to be ≈ 10^9 atoms per cubic centimetre. This represents the first stage of an ongoing study of quantum interference in four-level linkages. However, coherent effects can also be observed in hot vapours. A spontaneous, highly efficient, frequency up-conversion arising from four-wave mixing can indeed be observed in Rubidium. This complex phenomenon was investigated experimentally and theoretically so as to improve the conversion efficiency, and understand the underlying physics. The optimum conditions found in this study yield 1 mW of converted light for 40 mW of pumping light. As part of the study of the phase coherence of the process, the conversion of spatial modes in the four-wave mixing process was also examined. The observation of the transfer of orbital angular momentum in the process is reported, and a preliminary theoretical interpretation is presented.
Coherent preparation by laser light of quantum states of atoms and molecules can lead to quantum interference in the amplitudes of optical transitions. In this way the optical properties of a medium can be dramatically modified, leading to electromagnetically induced transparency and related effects, which have placed gas-phase systems at the center of recent advances in the development of media with radically new optical properties. This article reviews these advances and the new possibilities they offer for nonlinear optics and quantum information science. As a basis for the theory of electromagnetically induced transparency the authors consider the atomic dynamics and the optical response of the medium to a continuous-wave laser. They then discuss pulse propagation and the adiabatic evolution of field-coupled states and show how coherently prepared media can be used to improve frequency conversion in nonlinear optical mixing experiments. The extension of these concepts to very weak optical fields in the few-photon limit is then examined. The review concludes with a discussion of future prospects and potential new applications.
Systems with atomic coherence can have interesting optical properties, such as non-absorbing resonances or an index of refraction at a frequency of vanishing absorption many orders of magnitude larger than is otherwise possible. This chapter shows that phaseonium can display a large nonlinear Kerr-effect near the atomic resonance while retaining complete transparency. Near resonance nonlinearities are usually accompanied by a large absorption of the medium. A three-level atom is initially prepared in a coherent superposition of the two lower levels. This can be achieved for example by a coherent pulse excitation. The Kerr-coefficient is defined as the coefficient of the first nonlinear correction to the index of refraction.
The study of an ensemble of phase–coherent atoms has recently lead to interesting theoretical innovations and experimental demonstrations of counter–intuitive effects such as electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), lasing without inversion (LWI), enhancement of index of refraction and ultra–large nonlinear susceptibility. In the present notes, we report a couple of new effects along these lines. In fact, it would be fair to call them surprises even in the repertoire of ‘counter–intuitive effects’, i.e. ‘counter–counter–intuitive effects’. Specifically, we will show that the LWI concept, which is based on quantum coherence, has a surprising counterpart in the classical physics of free electron laser operation. In other current work, we find that it is possible to ‘lock’ atoms in an excited state via atomic coherence. It is, by now, not surprising that such a phase–coherent ensemble can show holes or dark lines in the emission spectrum. It is surprising that we can lock atoms in an excited (normally decaying) state via atomic coherence and interference. Such a phase–coherent collection of atoms, i.e. ‘phaseonium’, is indeed a novel new state of matter.