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New Journal of Physics

Controlling irreversibility and directionality of light via atomic motion: optical transistor and quantum velocimeter

C. H. Raymond Ooi

Published Dec 18, 2008• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The Doppler effect of moving atoms can create irreversibility of light. We show that the laser field in an electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT) scheme with atomic motion can control the directional propagation of two counter-propagating output probe fields in an atomic gas. Quantum coherence and the Doppler effect enable the system to function like an optical transistor with two outputs that can generate states analogous to the Bell basis. Interference of the two output fields from the gas provides useful features for determining the mean atomic velocity and can be used as a sensitive quantum velocimeter. Some subtle physics of EIT is also discussed. In particular, the sign of the dispersive phase in EIT is found to have a unique property, which helps to explain certain features in the interference.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/10/12/123024

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The Doppler effect of moving atoms can create irreversibility of light. We show that the laser field in electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT) scheme with atomic motion can control the directional propagation of two counter-propagating probe fields in atomic gas cell. The quantum coherence effect serves as an optical transistor. Interference of the two output fields from the cell shows useful feature for determining the mean atomic velocity and can be useful as quantum velocimeter. We also find that the sign of the dispersive phase in EIT has a unique property, which helps to explain certain features in the interference.

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The Doppler effect of moving atoms can create irreversibility of light. We show that the laser field in an electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT) scheme with atomic motion can control the directional propagation of two counter-propagating output probe fields in an atomic gas. Quantum coherence and the Doppler effect enable the system to function like an optical transistor with two outputs that can generate states analogous to the Bell basis. Interference of the two output fields from the gas provides useful features for determining the mean atomic velocity and can be used as a sensitive quantum velocimeter. Some subtle physics of EIT is also discussed. In particular, the sign of the dispersive phase in EIT is found to have a unique property, which helps to explain certain features in the interference.
The Doppler effect of moving atoms can create irreversibility of light. We show that the laser field in electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT) scheme with atomic motion can control the directional propagation of two counter-propagating probe fields in atomic gas cell. The quantum coherence effect serves as an optical transistor. Interference of the two output fields from the cell shows useful feature for determining the mean atomic velocity and can be useful as quantum velocimeter. We also find that the sign of the dispersive phase in EIT has a unique property, which helps to explain certain features in the interference.
Abstract For multi-level systems in hot atomic vapors the interplay between the Doppler shift due to atomic motion and the wavenumber mismatch between driving laser fields strongly influences transmission and absorption properties of the atomic medium. In a three-level atomic ladder-system, Doppler broadening limits the visibility of electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) when the probe and control fields are co-propagating, while EIT is recovered under the opposite condition of counter-propagating geometry and k p < k c , with k p and k c being the wavenumbers of the probe and control fields, respectively. This effect has been studied and experimentally demonstrated as an efficient mechanism to realize non-reciprocal probe light transmission, which may enable applications as magnetic-field free optical isolators. Here, we describe the basics of this effect and discuss a simple picture for the underlying mechanism. We illustrate how the non-reciprocity scales with wavelength mismatch and show how to experimentally demonstrate the effect in a simple Rydberg-EIT system using thermal Rubidium atoms.
For multi-level systems in hot atomic vapors the interplay between the Doppler shift due to atom velocity and the wavenubmer mismatch between driving laser fields strongly influences transmission and absorption properties of the atomic medium. In a three-level atomic ladder-system, Doppler broadening limits the visibility of electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) when the probe and control fields are co-propagating, while EIT is recovered under the opposite condition of counter-propagating geometry and kp<kck_{p} < k_{c}kp​<kc​, with kpk_{p}kp​ and kck_{c}kc​ being the wavenumbers of the probe and control fields, respectively. This effect has been studied and experimentally demonstrated as an efficient mechanism to realize non-reciprocal probe light transmission, opening promising avenues for example for realization of magnetic-field free optical isolators. In this tutorial we discuss the theoretical derivation of this effect and show the underlying mechanism to be an avoided crossing of the states dressed by the coupling laser as a function of atomic velocities when $k_{p}
The appearance of quantum interference in the microscopic world is one of the deepest mysteries at the very root of quantum mechanics. When light interacts with atoms, it can induce transitions by way of distinct but indistinguishable pathways and yield unexpected and often counter-intuitive results. Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT), Coherent Population Trapping (CPT), and Lasing Without Inversion (LWI) are modern examples of phenomena where the traditional rules that govern absorption and dispersion undergo major revisions. Spectacular consequences of this new state of affairs include the ability of a light beam to propagate through a normally absorbing medium with little or no absorption, or to undergo amplification even if the active medium is not prepared in a state of population inversion. Light signals have been shown to travel with strongly subluminal group velocities of only a handful of meters per second and, even, to propagate at speed greater than the ordinary speed of light, but without violation of causality or of the established rules that control the transfer of optical information through space. Three-level atoms can interact with two coherent electromagnetic fields according to three different systems, known as Cascade, Lambda and Vee systems. The propagation of a weak probe field can be deeply affected by the presence of a second stronger beam, the so-called coupling field. Transparency windows, splitting of emission and absorption lines and enormously enhanced dispersion have been documented in numerous experiments. In this thesis we explore the physical origin of the transparency induced in these systems by the simultaneous interplay of the coupling and probe fields. We focus our attention on the Cascade system and study its two configurations, Cascade-EIT and Cascade-AT. We develop a variety of complementary approaches for the description of these two configurations, some semiclassical and others fully quantum mechanical. We prove the existence of quantum interference in Electromagnetically Induced Transparency and also the surprising absence of interference in a closely related phenomenon, known as the Autler-Townes effect. Finally we complement the traditional machinery of theoretical quantum optics with techniques borrowed from quantum scattering theory, and offer what we believe is the most convincing physical evidence for the appearance, or for the absence, of quantum interference effects.
Summary form only given. Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) refers to a phenomenon, whereby the optically resonant transition is rendered nearly transparent by applying a strong coupling laser field. The mechanism of EIT is usually explained in terms of quantum coherence or quantum interference. This EIT has attracted increasing interest because absorption associated with nonlinear optical processes can be removed. In the typical three-level /spl lambda/-system, which includes the ground state and the metastable state, when the atomic population is prepared in the superposition of the states by the coupling fields, the optical response of the media to the probe field is significantly modified. Since this is a coherent control of an electric field by another field via the atomic coherence, several schemes to control light coherently have been suggested. We propose an optical coherent control scheme of the polarization of optical pulses using the EIT quantum coherence, and numerically study its applicability to fast optical switching.
The properties of an optically probed atomic medium can be changed dramatically by coherent interaction with a near-resonant control light field. The authors present experimental results on the elementary case of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) with a single neutral atom inside an optical cavity probed by a weak field. The modification of the dispersive and absorptive properties of a single atom by changing the frequency of the control light field in the off-resonant regime is observed.