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Physical Review Letters

Controlled Shift of Optical Bistability Hysteresis Curve and Storage of Optical Signals in a Four-Level Atomic System

Hong Chang, Haibin Wu, Changde Xie, Hai Wang

Published Nov 16, 2004• 74 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The dependence of the shift of an optical bistability hysteresis curve on the nonlinear phase shift induced by a controlling light is observed in a four-level atomic system of 87 Rb inside an optical ring cavity. In the process the intensity of the coupling beam keeps constant and the atomic system is operated at near conditions of coherent population trapping due to atomic coherence. The refractive and absorptive chi3 nonlinearities enhanced by atomic coherence provide the physical mechanism of the phenomena. Based on the effects, all-optical flip-flop and storage of optical pulse signals with a low peak power of several tens of microwatts are implemented.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.93.213901

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The dependence of the shift of an optical bistability hysteresis curve on the nonlinear phase shift induced by a controlling light is observed in a four-level atomic system of 87 Rb inside an optical ring cavity. In the process the intensity of the coupling beam keeps constant and the atomic system is operated at near conditions of coherent population trapping due to atomic coherence. The refractive and absorptive chi3 nonlinearities enhanced by atomic coherence provide the physical mechanism of the phenomena. Based on the effects, all-optical flip-flop and storage of optical pulse signals with a low peak power of several tens of microwatts are implemented.
In an optical bistability system consisting of an optical cavity and four-level atoms positive and negative phase shifts of an intracavity optical mode can be observed under the action of control signal pulses tuned close to certain energy levels of the atoms. The bistability hysteresis curve can thus be shifted and switching between the and high transmission states obtained in a controlled manner. Based on the above effects we have realized all-optical storage and optical switching controlled with low light power. This mechanism may be of potential use for all-optical quantum information processing.
We analyze the absorptive and hybrid absorptive–dispersive double-cavity optical bistability behavior in a four-level N-type atomic system driven by two optical fields circulating inside two independently unidirectional ring cavities and a trigger field outside the cavities. In this system, the two-photon absorption and cross Kerr nonlinearity play significant roles in the formation of bistability and can be controlled efficiently due to the quantum interference effect, and then the resulting nonlinear behavior exhibits different features from the two/three-level schemes. It is shown that the threshold values and hysteresis cycle width of the bistable curve can be manipulated via the adjustment of the system parameters. Meanwhile, we also obtain double-beam optical multistability. When adding positive and negative pulses to the cavity input, all-optical steady-state switching for the two cavity outputs can be achieved simultaneously. Therefore, the proposed scheme may have potential applications in all-optical communication and computing.
We have proposed a scheme for all-optical switching and flip-flop based on controllable optical bistability in a simple three-level V-type atomic system assisted by an incoherent pump field. Due to the auxiliary incoherent pump, the atomic population is redistributed in the three levels, and then the absorption-dispersion property and the Kerr nonlinearity of the medium are different from those of the conventional V-type electromagnetically induced transparency system. The results show that both the thresholds and the area (or shape) of the hysteresis loop can be controlled efficiently via the adjustment of either the incoherent pump field or the coupling field. As a result, with a constant cavity input, the output of the optical cavity can be switched between the low- and high-power states of different bistable curves by tuning the optical fields. Based on this effect, we realize all-optical steady-state switching and set-reset flip-flop operation by adding a pulse sequence (positive pulse or set-reset pulse) onto either the incoherent pump field or the coupling field. Such a simple and effective technique of optical switching and flip-flop can find application in all-optical signal processing systems.
Summary form only given. The reduced absorption and enhanced nonlinearity in a three-level electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) system are very important in achieving an effective all-optical switching action. The Kerr-nonlinear index of refraction of a three-level EIT medium can be greatly enhanced near resonance due to atomic coherence induced in such a system in comparison with a two-level atomic system, as we have shown by using an optical ring cavity. Both the magnitude and sign of the Kerr-nonlinear index change dramatically for different frequency detunings of the controlling (or coupling) or cavity (or probe) field. Bistability and dynamic instability occur when such a three-level /spl Lambda/-type EIT system is placed inside an optical ring cavity and the controlling and cavity input intensities to exceed certain threshold values. In this paper, we present a recent experimental demonstration of controlling the cavity output intensity by modulating the frequency detuning of the controlling beam.
Optical bistability phenomenon and all-optical computer are the important contents which are studied together presently in laser physics, quantum optics and computer science, etc.. In the nonlinear optical system consisting of optical cavity and three energy level atom system, changing the control signal pulse and phase detunings of strong coherent field is used to control optical bistability hysteresis curve of the system, to realize the controllable change of system output between the “high” and “low”. Based on the effect, the all-optical information memory and optical switch operation have been completed. This result has provided an effective way for the processing and application of all-optical information and quantum information.