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Physical Review Letters

Experimental Demonstration of Enhanced Index of Refraction via Quantum Coherence in Rb

Alexander S. Zibrov, Mikhail D. Lukin, Leo W. Hollberg, Dmitri E. Nikonov, Marlan O. Scully, H. G. Robinson, Vladimir L Velichansky

Published May 20, 1996• 284 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a proof-of-principle experiment demonstrating a resonant enhancement of the index of refraction accompanied by vanishing absorption in a cell containing a coherently prepared Rb vapor. The results are in good agreement with detailed theoretical predictions.
DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.76.3935

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It has recently been predicted and experimentally demonstrated that the refractive index of a vapor may be enhanced while maintaining vanishing absorption by using the interference of two Raman transitions, one absorptive and one amplifying in nature. In this paper, we present a detailed experimental study of this technique in a 1-mm-long rubidium (Rb) vapor cell with densities exceeding 1014{10}^{14}1014 cm${}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$. We study the optimization of the achieved refractive index as various experimental parameters are varied and discuss a number of limitations of the current experiments. We also present a detailed discussion of possible experimental improvements and future prospects of this technique.
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A large increase in atomic absorption due to coherent interaction with resonant radiation is predicted for a closed transition between two degenerate atomic levels verifying 0<Fg<Fe(Fg0<{F}_{g}<{F}_{e}{(F}_{g}0<Fg​<Fe​(Fg​ and Fe{F}_{e}Fe​ are the total angular momentum of the ground and the excited levels, respectively). In good agreement with the theoretical prediction, a total absorption enhancement by a factor 1.7 was obtained on the D2{D}_{2}D2​ line of 85Rb{}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}\mathrm{}85Rb in a vapor cell experiment.
The Kerr nonlinear index of refraction for rubidium atoms is measured by using an optical ring cavity with and without electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). Significant enhancement and inhibition of the Kerr nonlinear index is observed near resonance with EIT. The nonlinear index of refraction is measured as functions of probe and coupling frequency detunings, respectively, with and without the presence of EIT. A simple theoretical calculation including Doppler broadening is presented and is found to be in good qualitative agreement with the experimentally measured results.