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Optics Letters

Cavity linewidth narrowing and broadening due to competing linear and nonlinear dispersions

Haibin Wu, Min Xiao

Published Oct 22, 2007• 29 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate cavity linewidth control by manipulating dispersion of the intracavity medium. By making use of the dramatic change of Kerr nonlinearity near electromagnetically induced transparency resonance in a three-level atomic system, the cavity transmission linewidth can be greatly modified. As the cavity input intensity increases, the cavity linewidth changes from below to above empty cavity linewidth, corresponding to subluminal and superluminal photon propagation in the cavity, respectively.

DOI
10.1364/ol.32.003122

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We experimentally demonstrate cavity linewidth control by manipulating dispersion of the intracavity medium. By making use of the dramatic change of Kerr nonlinearity near electromagnetically induced transparency resonance in a three-level atomic system, the cavity transmission linewidth can be greatly modified. As the cavity input intensity increases, the cavity linewidth changes from below to above empty cavity linewidth, corresponding to subluminal and superluminal photon propagation in the cavity, respectively.
Linear absorption and dispersion properties, as well as Kerr nonlinear index, of three-level atomic systems can be greatly modified under the condition of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). By placing such EIT atoms in a vapor cell inside an optical ring cavity, the cavity transmission spectrum can be altered and controlled. We show that the cavity transmission linewidth can be narrowed substantially comparing to the empty cavity linewidth due to the sharp normal (linear) dispersion associated with the EIT resonance (which can be considered as photons traveling with a slower speed inside the optical cavity). On the other hand, the Kerr nonlinear dispersion has the opposite slope comparing to the linear dispersion near the EIT resonance, which can be used to balance the linear dispersion and lead to total anomalous dispersion for the intracavity atomic medium (with ``superluminal photon speed'' inside the optical cavity). Such anomalous dispersion in the intracavity medium makes the cavity transmission linewidth broader than the empty cavity linewidth. Under certain parameters, the so called ``white-light cavity'' condition can be satisfied, which makes the cavity transmission linewidth very broad and, at the same time, have high cavity transmission. Such modified and controlled cavity transmission linewidths can have many interesting applications in frequency locking, cavity ring-down spectroscopy, nonlinear optical spectroscopy, cavity-QED, and even recycling cavity of the gravitational-wave detector.
By balancing the steep linear and nonlinear dispersions of an intracavity electromagnetically induced transparency medium, the cavity transmission spectra can be significantly modified and controlled. As the cavity input intensity increases, the cavity linewidth changes from far below to above the empty cavity linewidth, corresponding to the photon propagation in the cavity from "subluminal" to "superluminal", respectively. A "white-light cavity" condition has been achieved under certain experimental conditions.
Atomic media inside an optical cavity can significantly alter the spectral response of the cavity. Both theoretical and experimental examinations are made of the cavity transmission with a highly dispersive intracavity multilevel atomic medium. It is found, owing to the reduced absorption and steep dispersion change accompanying electromagnetically induced transparency in such a multi-level atomic medium, that the cavity linewidth can be made much narrower than the empty cavity linewidth. Cavity linewidth narrowing is measured as a function of both the coupling beam power and the atomic density. These experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.
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.
A scheme is proposed for obtaining high gain and narrow linewidth of a cavity with an asymmetric quantum-well system. Due to resonant tunneling, destructive interference for linear absorption leads to a tunneling-induced transparency window which compresses the cavity linewidth; moreover, constructive interference for cross-nonlinear susceptibility occurs, which introduces high gain and large dispersion, and the cavity linewidth is much compressed. In the latter case, the intensity of cavity transmission could be enhanced one order of magnitude larger than that of input field, and its linewidth could be one-seventieth of the empty cavity.