Ultraslow light in a room-temperature solid

Emily Jarvis

Robert W. Boyd

Morigi, Agarwal

Robert W. Boyd, Mathew S. Bigelow, Nick N. Lepeshkin +2 more

We have observed ultraslow and ultrafast light propagation in several room-temperature solids as a consequence of the phenomenon of coherent population oscillations. Various new applications are enabled by the ability to exercise such control over the velocity of light.

Guoquan Zhang, Bo Fang, Rong Dong +1 more

We show that the group velocities of light pulses can be decelerated dramatically by the use of a dispersive phase-coupling effect through a wave mixing process. We have observed experimentally such a phase-coupling-induced ultraslow light propagation with a group velocity as low as $0.05\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}$ in a photorefractive ${\mathrm{B}\mathrm{i}}_{12}{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{O}}_{20}$ crystal at room temperature. Moreover, the ultraslow light is amplified in the ${\mathrm{B}\mathrm{i}}_{12}{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{O}}_{20}$ crystal because of the unidirectional energy transfer from a coupling beam to the ultraslow light. This technique to produce ultraslow light propagation is valid for all nonlinear wave mixing processes with a dispersive phase-coupling effect.

Robert W. Boyd, Matthew S. Bigelow, Nick N. Lepeshkin +2 more

We have observed ultraslow (57 m/s) propagation in ruby and superluminal (800 m/s) propagation in alexandrite enabled by the process of coherent population oscillations. Various novel applications are allowed by the ability to exercise such control on the velocity of light.