Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Journal of Modern Optics

Tunable photonic metamaterials

Jin‐Hui Wu, Andrzej Raczyński, Jarosław Zaremba, S. Zielińska-Kaniasty, M. Artoni, Giuseppe Carlo La Rocca

Published Oct 24, 2008• 18 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We illustrate a mechanism based on coherent optical nonlinearities to realize optically tunable photonic crystals built from media supporting electromagnetically induced transparency. These exhibit specific periodic patterns where a light probe can experience a fully developed photonic band-gap with negligible absorption. An analytical method based on a two-mode approximation is developed to study the optical response of such a periodically modulated medium driven into a regime of standing-wave electromagnetically induced transparency. A comparison with a transfer matrix approach and with techniques based on the coupled Maxwell–Liouville equations shows that our method is very accurate to describe the optical properties of such photonic metamaterials in the frequency region of interest. Nearly perfect reflectivities may be attained for ultracold 87Rb atoms samples which are seen to reflect with little loss and deformation light pulses whose frequency components are contained within the gap. When the same mechanism is implemented for inhomogeneously broadened optical transitions of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, which is more amenable to device applications, fully developed photonic band-gap structures with negligible absorption, reflectivities very close to unity and sufficiently large bandwidths may also be attained. We further examine more flexible schemes based on four level systems under double driving conditions showing more accurate and efficient coherent optical control of the photonic band-gap. The remarkable experimental simplicity of the schemes that we presented is set to ease quantum nonlinear optics applications.

DOI
10.1080/09500340802220752

Related papers

Fully Tunable Photonic Structures In Homogeneous Absorbing Media.

M. Artoni, Giuseppe Carlo La Rocca

Resonantly absorbing media supporting electromagnetically induced transparency may give rise to specific periodic patterns where a light probe is found to experience a fully developed photonic band-gap yet with negligible absorption everywhere. Accurate and efficient coherent optical control of the gap can be accomplished while the remarkable experimental simplicity of the control scheme would ease quantum nonlinear optics applications.

The Rochester Conferences on Coherence and Quantum Optics and the Quantum Information and Measurement meeting•Jan 1, 2007•0 citations

Controlling the photonic band structure of optically driven cold atoms

Jin‐Hui Wu, M. Artoni, Giuseppe Carlo La Rocca

An analytical method based on a two-mode approximation is here developed to study the optical response of a periodically modulated medium of ultracold atoms driven into a regime of standing-wave electromagnetically induced transparency. A systematic comparison with the usual approach based on the coupled Maxwell-Liouville equations shows that our method is very accurate in the frequency region of interest. Our method, in particular, explains in a straightforward manner the formation of a well-developed photonic bandgap in the optical Bloch wave vector dispersion. For ultracold 87Rb atoms nearly perfect reflectivity may be attained and a light pulse whose frequency components are contained within the gap is seen to be reflected with little loss and deformation.

Journal of the Optical Society of America B•Oct 14, 2008•40 citations

Optically Tunable Photonic Stop Bands in Homogeneous Absorbing Media

M. Artoni, Giuseppe Carlo La Rocca

Resonantly absorbing media supporting electromagnetically induced transparency may give rise to specific periodic patterns where a light probe is found to experience a fully developed photonic band gap yet with negligible absorption everywhere. In ultracold atomic samples the gap is found to arise from spatial regions where Autler-Townes splitting and electromagnetically induced transparency alternate with one another and detailed calculations show that accurate and efficient coherent optical control of the gap can be accomplished. The remarkable experimental simplicity of the control scheme would ease quantum nonlinear optics applications.

Physical Review Letters•Feb 24, 2006•163 citations

Generation and control of electromagnetically induced double photonic band-gaps

Miao Yu, Zhang Yan, Bo Fang +3 more

By using the technique of electromagnetically induced transparency and solving density matrix equations for atoms and transfer matrix equations of fields, we study the steady optical properties of a four-level system of cold atoms driven by a traveling-wave field and a standing-wave field. It is found that a nearly perfect structure of double photonic band-gap can be generated with specific parameters. In particular, the reflectivity inside each photonic band-gap is homogeneous over 95%. It is convenient to modulate the positions and widths of both photonic band-gaps by changing intensities and frequencies of the driving fields. The double photonic band-gaps can be used to achieve all-optical routing and switching and therefore may have applications in all-optical information networks.

Acta Physica Sinica•Jan 1, 2012•1 citation

Tunable photonic band gaps with coherently driven atoms in optical lattices

David Petrosyan

An optical lattice loaded with cold atoms can exhibit a tunable photonic band gap for a weak probe field under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. This system possesses a number of advantageous properties, including reduced relaxation of Raman coherence and the associated probe absorption, and simultaneous enhancement of the index modulation and the resulting reflectivity of the medium. This flexible system has the potential to serve as a test bed for various designs of linear and nonlinear photonic band gap materials at very low light level and can be employed to realize deterministic entanglement between weak quantum fields.

arXiv:0706.3133•Physical Review A•Nov 16, 2007•40 citations

Tunable Photonic Bandgaps Induced by Standing-Wave Fields and Related Topics

Jin‐Hui Wu, M. Artoni, Giuseppe Carlo La Rocca +1 more

In this chapter, we give a brief review of our recent research works on photonic bandgaps induced by standing-wave (SW) coupling fields in the regime of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). EIT refers to the absorption suppression or elimination of a weak probe going through an atomic ensemble at the presence of a strong coupling, which is a result of laser induced destructive quantum interference. On the other hand, a light signal cannot freely propagate in the media with periodic refractive indices (the so-called photonic crystals) if its carrier frequencies fall inside the photonic bandgaps. Utilizing a SW coupling to attain the periodically modulated refractive index with little absorption, one can establish an induced photonic bandgap with its width and position dynamically tunable. The potential media may be either cold atomic ensembles or solid materials exhibiting defect states, such as Pr3+: Y2SiO5 and diamond containing N-V color centers. We first consider the steady optical responses of the atomic and solid media with dynamically induced bandgaps to a time- independent probe by focusing on the dispersion curves of Bloch wave vectors and the spectra of reflection and transmission. Then, we examine the propagation dynamics of a probe pulse through a cold atomic sample in two different situations where a dynamically induced bandgap exists or not. We find that the SW coupling field can be easily modulated to mold the traveling-light flow and to control the stationary-light generation with quite high flexibility, and thus may have applications in the fields of classical and quantum information processing of optical signals. In performing theoretical simulations, we also demonstrated several different but almost equivalent mathematical methods, i.e. the two-mode approximation method, the transfer-matrix method, and the Maxwell-Liouville equation method, to deal with the problems of SW-EIT. Comparison of these methods is quite helpful to understand the underlying physics of the formation of dynamically induced photonic bandgaps.

BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks•Jan 1, 2009•0 citations
We illustrate a mechanism based on coherent optical nonlinearities to realize optically tunable photonic crystals built from media supporting electromagnetically induced transparency. These exhibit specific periodic patterns where a light probe can experience a fully developed photonic band-gap with negligible absorption. An analytical method based on a two-mode approximation is developed to study the optical response of such a periodically modulated medium driven into a regime of standing-wave electromagnetically induced transparency. A comparison with a transfer matrix approach and with techniques based on the coupled Maxwell–Liouville equations shows that our method is very accurate to describe the optical properties of such photonic metamaterials in the frequency region of interest. Nearly perfect reflectivities may be attained for ultracold 87Rb atoms samples which are seen to reflect with little loss and deformation light pulses whose frequency components are contained within the gap. When the same mechanism is implemented for inhomogeneously broadened optical transitions of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, which is more amenable to device applications, fully developed photonic band-gap structures with negligible absorption, reflectivities very close to unity and sufficiently large bandwidths may also be attained. We further examine more flexible schemes based on four level systems under double driving conditions showing more accurate and efficient coherent optical control of the photonic band-gap. The remarkable experimental simplicity of the schemes that we presented is set to ease quantum nonlinear optics applications.
An analytical method based on a two-mode approximation is here developed to study the optical response of a periodically modulated medium of ultracold atoms driven into a regime of standing-wave electromagnetically induced transparency. A systematic comparison with the usual approach based on the coupled Maxwell-Liouville equations shows that our method is very accurate in the frequency region of interest. Our method, in particular, explains in a straightforward manner the formation of a well-developed photonic bandgap in the optical Bloch wave vector dispersion. For ultracold 87Rb atoms nearly perfect reflectivity may be attained and a light pulse whose frequency components are contained within the gap is seen to be reflected with little loss and deformation.
Resonantly absorbing media supporting electromagnetically induced transparency may give rise to specific periodic patterns where a light probe is found to experience a fully developed photonic band gap yet with negligible absorption everywhere. In ultracold atomic samples the gap is found to arise from spatial regions where Autler-Townes splitting and electromagnetically induced transparency alternate with one another and detailed calculations show that accurate and efficient coherent optical control of the gap can be accomplished. The remarkable experimental simplicity of the control scheme would ease quantum nonlinear optics applications.
By using the technique of electromagnetically induced transparency and solving density matrix equations for atoms and transfer matrix equations of fields, we study the steady optical properties of a four-level system of cold atoms driven by a traveling-wave field and a standing-wave field. It is found that a nearly perfect structure of double photonic band-gap can be generated with specific parameters. In particular, the reflectivity inside each photonic band-gap is homogeneous over 95%. It is convenient to modulate the positions and widths of both photonic band-gaps by changing intensities and frequencies of the driving fields. The double photonic band-gaps can be used to achieve all-optical routing and switching and therefore may have applications in all-optical information networks.
An optical lattice loaded with cold atoms can exhibit a tunable photonic band gap for a weak probe field under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. This system possesses a number of advantageous properties, including reduced relaxation of Raman coherence and the associated probe absorption, and simultaneous enhancement of the index modulation and the resulting reflectivity of the medium. This flexible system has the potential to serve as a test bed for various designs of linear and nonlinear photonic band gap materials at very low light level and can be employed to realize deterministic entanglement between weak quantum fields.
In this chapter, we give a brief review of our recent research works on photonic bandgaps induced by standing-wave (SW) coupling fields in the regime of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). EIT refers to the absorption suppression or elimination of a weak probe going through an atomic ensemble at the presence of a strong coupling, which is a result of laser induced destructive quantum interference. On the other hand, a light signal cannot freely propagate in the media with periodic refractive indices (the so-called photonic crystals) if its carrier frequencies fall inside the photonic bandgaps. Utilizing a SW coupling to attain the periodically modulated refractive index with little absorption, one can establish an induced photonic bandgap with its width and position dynamically tunable. The potential media may be either cold atomic ensembles or solid materials exhibiting defect states, such as Pr3+: Y2SiO5 and diamond containing N-V color centers. We first consider the steady optical responses of the atomic and solid media with dynamically induced bandgaps to a time- independent probe by focusing on the dispersion curves of Bloch wave vectors and the spectra of reflection and transmission. Then, we examine the propagation dynamics of a probe pulse through a cold atomic sample in two different situations where a dynamically induced bandgap exists or not. We find that the SW coupling field can be easily modulated to mold the traveling-light flow and to control the stationary-light generation with quite high flexibility, and thus may have applications in the fields of classical and quantum information processing of optical signals. In performing theoretical simulations, we also demonstrated several different but almost equivalent mathematical methods, i.e. the two-mode approximation method, the transfer-matrix method, and the Maxwell-Liouville equation method, to deal with the problems of SW-EIT. Comparison of these methods is quite helpful to understand the underlying physics of the formation of dynamically induced photonic bandgaps.