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Journal of Modern Optics

Effects of a highly dispersive atomic medium inside an optical ring cavity

David J. Goorskey, Hai Wang, W. H. Burkett, Min Xiao

Published Jan 1, 2002• 13 citations
Publisher

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1080/09500340110089947

Related papers

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Summary form only given. We present our work on the modified properties of an optical resonator that contains an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) medium. Transparency and steep index of refraction are utilized to reduce the linewidth of the cavity. The influence of the relative intensities of the laser fields is studied, and the results are in good agreement with computer simulations. The linewidth of an optical cavity depends on the phase shift accumulated by the light wave during one round trip. A transparent medium with very strong dispersion causes a very rapidly varying phase shift and would have a remarkable effect on the linewidth of the cavity.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics•Nov 27, 2002•0 citations
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.
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.
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.
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.
This thesis mainly focuses on the experimental investigations of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) related phenomena in various systems involving multilevel atoms inside an optical ring cavity. Semiclassical methods, e.g. density-matrix equations, are used through out this thesis to simulate the experimental results. First, the cavity transmission spectrum can be significantly modified when multilevel atoms are placed inside an optical ring cavity. Such coupled atom-cavity systems are well explained by the intracavity dispersion/absorption properties. Specifically, three-level lambda-type, four-level N-type and double-lambda-type atoms inside an optical ring cavity are investigated by examining their cavity transmission spectra. Second, optical multistability (OM) has been demonstrated with EIT atoms inside an optical ring cavity. Such OM has been utilized to realize a controllable optical multistate switch, which can be modeled as a triple-well system. Third, self-Kerr nonlinearities of multilevel atoms are measured in an optical ring cavity by scanning the cavity length. Fourth, bright Stokes and anti-Stokes fields are generated simultaneously in a doubly-resonant atomic optical parametric oscillator (AOPO). In addition, vacuum-induced absorption and noise correlations are studied in the AOPO system. Last, a theoretical model is proposed to realize parity-time (PT) symmetry in a four-level N-type atomic system by spatially modifying the complex refractive index in free space. Moreover, the experimental progress is made to observe discrete diffraction pattern in an optically induced lattice by interfering with plane waves in a coherent atomic medium.
Summary form only given. We present our work on the modified properties of an optical resonator that contains an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) medium. Transparency and steep index of refraction are utilized to reduce the linewidth of the cavity. The influence of the relative intensities of the laser fields is studied, and the results are in good agreement with computer simulations. The linewidth of an optical cavity depends on the phase shift accumulated by the light wave during one round trip. A transparent medium with very strong dispersion causes a very rapidly varying phase shift and would have a remarkable effect on the linewidth of the cavity.