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Physical Review A

Four-wave mixing with short pulses and optimized atomic coherence

Li Deng, M. G. Payne, W. R. Garrett

Published Mar 14, 2001• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a time-dependent calculation for four-wave mixing using a combination of long, short, and time delayed laser pulses in the context of electromagnetically induced transparency. Two transform limited nanosecond lasers are used to create a highly coherent mixture of the ground state and an excited state via a two-photon process. Once the induced transparency is established, a laser with short pulse length is injected after a suitable delay to generate four-wave mixing. We show that the wave mixing process is phase matched for all detunings, and with appropriately selected atomic coherence and populations, near 100% photon flux conversion efficiency can be obtained, independent of the intensity of the short pulse laser. In addition, we show that for small detunings for the short pulse laser, the four-wave mixing field travels with the speed of light in vacuum and suffers no pulse distortion even though the medium is highly dispersive at the frequency of the generated wave. These advantages open a door for future applications of the scheme for highly efficient, very stable UV generation.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.63.043811

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arXiv:1311.5292•Physical Review A•Feb 24, 2014•37 citations
We present a time-dependent calculation for four-wave mixing using a combination of long, short, and time delayed laser pulses in the context of electromagnetically induced transparency. Two transform limited nanosecond lasers are used to create a highly coherent mixture of the ground state and an excited state via a two-photon process. Once the induced transparency is established, a laser with short pulse length is injected after a suitable delay to generate four-wave mixing. We show that the wave mixing process is phase matched for all detunings, and with appropriately selected atomic coherence and populations, near 100% photon flux conversion efficiency can be obtained, independent of the intensity of the short pulse laser. In addition, we show that for small detunings for the short pulse laser, the four-wave mixing field travels with the speed of light in vacuum and suffers no pulse distortion even though the medium is highly dispersive at the frequency of the generated wave. These advantages open a door for future applications of the scheme for highly efficient, very stable UV generation.
Two transform limited nanosecond lasers are used in a delayed pulse mode to prepare a highly coherent mixture of the ground state and the upper state of a two-photon transition. A picosecond laser co-propagates through the prepared medium at a delayed time and generates a four-wave mixing field. With a carefully chosen time delay, the wave mixing process is phase matched for all detunings and concentrations, and all of the third laser photons can be converted to the mixing field, independent of the intensity of the short-pulse laser. The condition for optimum conversion efficiency does not usually correspond to maximum atomic coherence. In the case of a near resonance short-pulse laser, the condition for phase matching leads to efficient conversion, with the mixing field propagating at the speed of light in vacuum with no distortion.
Using Schrodinger-Maxwell formalism, we propose and analyze an optical four-wave mixing (FWM) scheme for the generation of coherent light in a coherent six-level atomic medium based on dual electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We show that the significantly enhanced conversion efficiency enabled by ultraslow propagation of pump waves has no direct relationship with the single-photon detuning, which is different from the FWM with a single EIT. The most important feature is that our scheme is also capable of inhibiting and delaying the onset of the detrimental three-photon destructive interference that looks like a recent scheme [Phys. Rev. Lett. 91 (2003) 243902] andmay be used for generating short-wave-length coherent radiation.
Using Schrödinger–Maxwell formalism, we propose and analyze an optical four-wave mixing (FWM) scheme for the generation of coherent light in a coherent six-level atomic medium based on dual electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We show that the significantly enhanced conversion efficiency enabled by ultraslow propagation of pump waves has no direct relationship with the single-photon detuning, which is different from the FWM with a single EIT. The most important feature is that our scheme is also capable of inhibiting and delaying the onset of the detrimental three-photon destructive interference that looks like a recent scheme [Phys. Rev. Lett. 91 (2003) 243902] and may be used for generating short-wave-length coherent radiation.
We investigate a four-state system interacting with long and short laser pulses in a weak probe beam approximation. We show that when all lasers are tuned to the exact unperturbed resonances, part of the four-wave mixing (FWM) field is strongly absorbed. The part that is not absorbed has the exact intensity required to destructively interfere with the excitation pathway involved in producing the FWM state. We show that with this three-photon destructive interference, the conversion efficiency can still be as high as 25%. Contrary to common belief, our calculation shows that this process, where an ideal one-photon electromagnetically induced transparency is established, is not most suitable for high-efficiency conversion. With appropriate phase matching and propagation distance, and when the three-photon destructive interference does not occur, we show that the photon flux conversion efficiency is independent of probe intensity and can be close to 100%. In addition, we show clearly that the conversion efficiency is not determined by the maximum atomic coherence between two lower excited states, as commonly believed. It is the combination of phase matching and constructive interference involving the two terms arising in producing the mixing wave that is the key element for the optimized FWM generation. Indeed, in this scheme no appreciable excited state is produced, so that the atomic coherence between states |0〉 and |2〉 is always very small.
Using Schrodinger-Maxwell formalism, we propose and analyze a continuous-wave four-wave mixing (FWM) scheme for the generation of coherent light in a six-level atomic system based on electromagnetically dual induced transparency. We derive the corresponding explicit analytical expressions for the generated mixing field. We find that the scheme greatly enhances FWM production efficiency and is also capable of inhibiting and delaying the onset of the detrimental three-photon destructive interference by choosing the proper decay rate in the second electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) process. In addition, such an optical process also provides possibilities for producing short-wave-length coherent radiation at low pump intensities.
We observed electromagnetically induced transparency-based four-wave mixing (FWM) in the pulsed regime at low light levels. The FWM conversion efficiency of 3.8(9)3.8(9)%3.8(9) was observed in a four-level system of cold 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms using a driving laser pulse with a peak intensity of $\ensuremath{\approx}80$ $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$, corresponding to an energy of $\ensuremath{\approx}60$ photons per atomic cross section. Comparison between the experimental data and the theoretical predictions proposed by Harris and Hau [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4611 (1999)] showed good agreement. Additionally, a high conversion efficiency of 46(2)46(2)%46(2) was demonstrated when applying this scheme using a driving laser intensity of $\ensuremath{\approx}1.8$ mW/cm2\mathrm{mW}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}mW/cm2. According to our theoretical predictions, this FWM scheme can achieve a conversion efficiency of nearly 100100%100 when using a dense medium with an optical depth of 500.