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Physical Review A

Phase-dependent coherent population trapping and optical switching

J. Kou, Ren-Gang Wan, Zhijun Kang, L. Jiang, L. Wang, Yun Jiang, Jinwei Gao

Published Dec 2, 2011• 20 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose a scheme for achieving phase-dependent coherent population trapping, showing that both the dark state of the atoms and light propagation dynamics depend on the relative phase of the fields. The atomic coherence prepared via adiabatic process plays a key role in the interaction of light with matter. And an optical switching based on the phase-controlled quantum interference is implemented, which may have potential application in high-speed optical communications and quantum information systems.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.84.063807

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We propose a scheme for achieving phase-dependent coherent population trapping, showing that both the dark state of the atoms and light propagation dynamics depend on the relative phase of the fields. The atomic coherence prepared via adiabatic process plays a key role in the interaction of light with matter. And an optical switching based on the phase-controlled quantum interference is implemented, which may have potential application in high-speed optical communications and quantum information systems.
Atomic coherence is the interaction process between light and atoms, that is one or more coherent fields couple the different atomic states and cause the quantum interference between the different transition channels. Atomic coherence has led to many interesting and unexpected consequences, such as the Hanle effects, electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), coherence population trapping (CPT), stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP), spontaneous emission control, resonant enhancement of optical nonlinearity, slow and superluminal light propagation, quantum light storage, etc. In which, light storage based on atomic coherence plays an important role in the coherent control of light pulse information. In this chapter, we present some previous works on atomic coherence and optical storage. Firstly, we present the storage and recovery of light pulse based on F-STIRAP, which is fundamentally different from the conventional EIT-based process. Secondly, we present the applications of light storage based on EIT in a Pr3+:Y2SiO5 crystal, which includes the erasure of stored optical information, all-optical routing by light storage, and the coherent control of double light pulses. At last, we propose theoretically and demonstrate experimentally a method to control the atomic coherence by a STIRAP or F-STIRAP process.
Atomic coherence and interference manifested by electromagentically induced transparency (EIT) and coherent population trapping (CPT) plays an important role in the current studies of atom-photon interactions and has found numerous applications in optical physics. EIT is created in a three-level atomic system by a coupling field and results in destructive interference between two excitation paths of a weak probe laser interacting with the atomic medium. This leads to suppressed linear absorption and rapidly varying atomic dispersion for the probe laser near the atomic resonance, which provides the platform for a variety of applications such as nonlinear optics at low light levels, slow light manipulation, and quantum state engineering for photons and atoms. Here we extend the simple three-level EIT system to more complicated and versatile configurations in a multi-level atomic system coupled by multiple laser fields. We show that with multiple excitation paths provided by different laser fields, phase-dependent quantum interference is induced: either constructive or destructive interference can be realized by varying the relative phases among the laser fields. Two specific examples are discussed. One is a three-level system coupled by bichromatic coupling and probe fields, in which the phase dependent interference between the resonant two-photon Raman transitions can be initiated and controlled. Another is a four-level system coupled by two coupling fields and two probe fields, in which a double-EIT configuration is created by the phase-dependent interference between three-photon and one-photon excitation processes. We analyze the coherently coupled multi-level atomic system and discuss the control parameters for the onset of constructive or destructive quantum interference. We describe two experiments performed with cold Rb atoms that can be approximately treated as the coherently coupled three-level and four-level atomic systems respectively. The experimental results show the phase-dependent quantum coherence and interference in the multi-level Rb atomic system, and agree with the theoretical calculations based on the coherently coupled three-level or four-level model system.
We identify a process in which we can control the behavior of an atomic medium to switch between transparent and enhanced-absorption at multiple frequencies. The process relies on the quantum interference between multiple dark states, which can be constructive or destructive at different frequencies and can be altered dramatically by changing the phase difference between the two circularly polarized components of a single coherent field. This phase-controlled switching behavior is obtainable without altering the powers or frequency detunings of the beams. We demonstrate the process experimentally by using two coherent fields and atomic rubidium vapor. Such selective switching between multiple frequency channels could also have applications in optical communication and quantum information processing.
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.
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.
The manipulation of the steady-state behavior of a collection of dipole-interacting three-level atoms in a V or Lambda configuration is investigated as a function of the relative phase of two strong coherent driving fields. For larger samples, the phase is shown to be a convenient parameter to rapidly populate or depopulate completely a trapping state of the ensemble. As applications, we present the appropriately prepared atomic sample as an optical switching device and show its virtues in controlling the collective steady-state resonance fluorescence intensity.