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 the Optical Society of America B

Switching from subluminal to superluminal light propagation via a coherent pump field in a four-level atomic system

Shang-qi Kuang, Ren-Gang Wan, Jun Kou, Yun Jiang, Jin-Yue Gao

Published Nov 5, 2009• 13 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the influence of a coherent pump field on the propagation of a weak light pulse of a probe field in a four-level atomic system. Due to the modulation of the pump field, the light pulse can be manipulated from subluminal to superluminal with negligible distortion. This scheme can be realized in both the ultracold and Doppler-broadened atomic systems. We also demonstrate that the spectral linewidth with an anomalous dispersion is reduced by thermal averaging; therefore, one can obtain a larger negative group refractive index in room-temperature vapor than the largest value achieved in ultracold atomic gas.

DOI
10.1364/josab.26.002256

Related papers

Switching from normal dispersion to anomalous dispersion in a four-level atomic system

Zhi‐Hui Kang, Fan Meng, Yan-Ji Qu +4 more

Abstract The manipulation of the group velocity of light is very important in further information processing and quantum network. It is well known that subluminal and superluminal light propagation can be obtained by controlling the dispersion property of the experimental medium. In order to realize the switching from normal dispersion to anomalous dispersion at the same frequency, we investigate the dispersion and absorption properties of a four-level atomic system. By adjusting the intensity of an incoherent pump, we get transparent normal dispersion and lossless anomalous dispersion, which lead to subluminal and superluminal light propagation respectively. For a strong incoherent pump, the intensity of the coherent coupling field also can be used to realize a similar switching effect.

Laser Physics•Oct 19, 2021•1 citation

Phase-Controlled Transparent Superluminal Light Propagation in a Doppler-Broadened Four-Level N-Type System

Lida Ebrahimi Zohravi, Majid Abedi, Mohammad Mahmoudi

The propagation of a weak probe field in a four-level N-type quantum system in the presence of spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) is theoretically investigated. The optical properties of the system are studied and it is shown that the group velocity of light pulse can be controlled by relative phase of applied fields. By changing the relative phase of applied fields, the group velocity of light pulse changes from transparent subluminal to the transparent superluminal light propagation. Thus, the phase-controlled absorption-free superluminal light propagation is obtained without applying an incoherent laser fields to the system. The propagation of a weak probe light pulse is studied by solving the Maxwell's wave equation on numerical grid in space and time. Moreover, we study the third order self- and cross-Kerr susceptibility of probe field and calculate the nonlinear cross-phase shift for different values of intensity of applied fields. In addition, we take into account the effect of Doppler broadening on the light pulse propagation and it is found that a suitable choice of laser propagation directions allows us to preserve our results even in the presence of Doppler effect. It is demonstrated that by increasing the Doppler width of distribution to the room temperature, the dispersion changes from transparent subluminal to transparent superluminal light propagation which is our major motivation for this work.

arXiv:1211.0397•Communications in Theoretical Physics•Apr 1, 2014•6 citations

An optical narrowband switch between subluminal and superluminal light propagation in the inverted-Y configuration

Suman Mondal, Arindam Ghosh, Khairul Islam +1 more

Abstract The propagation of a weak probe field through a four-level inverted-Y type atomic system driven by two additional coherent fields, namely the control field and the repump field, is studied. The simulated probe absorption shows that electromagnetically induced transparency and the line shape of the transparency window under a Doppler-broadened condition are dependent on the residual Doppler averaging due to the wavelength mismatch between the control and probe fields. For 87 Rb the probe propagation changes from subluminal on-resonance under a Doppler-free condition to superluminal on-resonance under a Doppler-broadened condition. For both 87 Rb and 133 Cs, the narrow subluminal window occurring in the group index profile in a Doppler-free environment offers an excellent delay bandwidth for probe field propagation. Under this condition, the order of the delay in probe field propagation can be as long as a few hundred µ s and seems quite promising in the field of optical delay generation and light storage. The analysis shows that the residual Doppler averaging has a greater impact on the switching window under the variation of the Rabi frequency of the control field as compared to that of the repump field.

Laser Physics•May 23, 2019•9 citations

Switching between superluminal to subluminal velocities and Tunable slow light in a four level atomic system

Sankar Davuluri, Yuri V. Rostovtsev

A four-level atomic system interacting with two strong drive fields and a weak probe field has been studied. We demonstrate that the group velocity of probe field can be controlled to switch from subluminal to superluminal or even negative values around the probe resonance without any significant absorption. The basic idea is to create a gain with slow light on the probe beam resonance with one drive field while the other drive creates a dip in the gain profile of probe leading to superluminal and negative group velocities. A simple switching from slow light to negative group velocity light can be obtained by changing the relative intensities of drive fields. We also describe a control to tune the position of slow light frequency continuously simply by adjusting the relative intensities of both the driving fields.

Journal of Physics Conference Series•Feb 8, 2013•10 citations

Switching from normal to anomalous dispersion via coherent field

H. Tajalli, Mostafa Sahrai

This paper investigates the group velocity of a probe field in a four-level atomic system. It is shown that switching from positive to negative dispersion can be achieved just by the intensity of the coupling field. Superluminal light propagation in the system at stake is accompanied by reduced absorption to make sure that the probe field is not attenuated as it passes through the medium.

Journal of Optics B Quantum and Semiclassical Optics•May 16, 2005•47 citations

Superluminal reflection and transmission of light pulses via resonant four-wave mixing in cesium vapor

Qichang Jiang, Yan Zhang, Dan Wang +3 more

We report the experimental manipulation of the group velocities of reflected and transmitted light pulses in a degenerate two-level atomic system driven by a standing wave, which is created by two counter-propagating light beams of equal frequencies but variable amplitudes. It is shown that the light pulse is reflected with superluminal group velocity while the transmitted pulse propagates from subluminal to superluminal velocities via changing the power of the backward coupling field. We find that the simultaneous superluminal light reflection and transmission can be reached when the power of the backward field becomes closer or equal to the forward power, in this case the periodical absorption modulation for photonic structure is established in atoms. The theoretical discussion shows that the anomalous dispersion associated with a resonant absorption dip within the gain peak due to four-wave mixing leads to the superluminal reflection, while the varying dispersion from normal to anomalous at transparency, transparency within absorption, and electromagnetically induced absorption windows leads to the subluminal to superluminal transmission.

Optics Express•Oct 12, 2016•6 citations
We theoretically investigate the influence of a coherent pump field on the propagation of a weak light pulse of a probe field in a four-level atomic system. Due to the modulation of the pump field, the light pulse can be manipulated from subluminal to superluminal with negligible distortion. This scheme can be realized in both the ultracold and Doppler-broadened atomic systems. We also demonstrate that the spectral linewidth with an anomalous dispersion is reduced by thermal averaging; therefore, one can obtain a larger negative group refractive index in room-temperature vapor than the largest value achieved in ultracold atomic gas.
Abstract The manipulation of the group velocity of light is very important in further information processing and quantum network. It is well known that subluminal and superluminal light propagation can be obtained by controlling the dispersion property of the experimental medium. In order to realize the switching from normal dispersion to anomalous dispersion at the same frequency, we investigate the dispersion and absorption properties of a four-level atomic system. By adjusting the intensity of an incoherent pump, we get transparent normal dispersion and lossless anomalous dispersion, which lead to subluminal and superluminal light propagation respectively. For a strong incoherent pump, the intensity of the coherent coupling field also can be used to realize a similar switching effect.
The propagation of a weak probe field in a four-level N-type quantum system in the presence of spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) is theoretically investigated. The optical properties of the system are studied and it is shown that the group velocity of light pulse can be controlled by relative phase of applied fields. By changing the relative phase of applied fields, the group velocity of light pulse changes from transparent subluminal to the transparent superluminal light propagation. Thus, the phase-controlled absorption-free superluminal light propagation is obtained without applying an incoherent laser fields to the system. The propagation of a weak probe light pulse is studied by solving the Maxwell's wave equation on numerical grid in space and time. Moreover, we study the third order self- and cross-Kerr susceptibility of probe field and calculate the nonlinear cross-phase shift for different values of intensity of applied fields. In addition, we take into account the effect of Doppler broadening on the light pulse propagation and it is found that a suitable choice of laser propagation directions allows us to preserve our results even in the presence of Doppler effect. It is demonstrated that by increasing the Doppler width of distribution to the room temperature, the dispersion changes from transparent subluminal to transparent superluminal light propagation which is our major motivation for this work.
Abstract The propagation of a weak probe field through a four-level inverted-Y type atomic system driven by two additional coherent fields, namely the control field and the repump field, is studied. The simulated probe absorption shows that electromagnetically induced transparency and the line shape of the transparency window under a Doppler-broadened condition are dependent on the residual Doppler averaging due to the wavelength mismatch between the control and probe fields. For 87 Rb the probe propagation changes from subluminal on-resonance under a Doppler-free condition to superluminal on-resonance under a Doppler-broadened condition. For both 87 Rb and 133 Cs, the narrow subluminal window occurring in the group index profile in a Doppler-free environment offers an excellent delay bandwidth for probe field propagation. Under this condition, the order of the delay in probe field propagation can be as long as a few hundred µ s and seems quite promising in the field of optical delay generation and light storage. The analysis shows that the residual Doppler averaging has a greater impact on the switching window under the variation of the Rabi frequency of the control field as compared to that of the repump field.
A four-level atomic system interacting with two strong drive fields and a weak probe field has been studied. We demonstrate that the group velocity of probe field can be controlled to switch from subluminal to superluminal or even negative values around the probe resonance without any significant absorption. The basic idea is to create a gain with slow light on the probe beam resonance with one drive field while the other drive creates a dip in the gain profile of probe leading to superluminal and negative group velocities. A simple switching from slow light to negative group velocity light can be obtained by changing the relative intensities of drive fields. We also describe a control to tune the position of slow light frequency continuously simply by adjusting the relative intensities of both the driving fields.
We report the experimental manipulation of the group velocities of reflected and transmitted light pulses in a degenerate two-level atomic system driven by a standing wave, which is created by two counter-propagating light beams of equal frequencies but variable amplitudes. It is shown that the light pulse is reflected with superluminal group velocity while the transmitted pulse propagates from subluminal to superluminal velocities via changing the power of the backward coupling field. We find that the simultaneous superluminal light reflection and transmission can be reached when the power of the backward field becomes closer or equal to the forward power, in this case the periodical absorption modulation for photonic structure is established in atoms. The theoretical discussion shows that the anomalous dispersion associated with a resonant absorption dip within the gain peak due to four-wave mixing leads to the superluminal reflection, while the varying dispersion from normal to anomalous at transparency, transparency within absorption, and electromagnetically induced absorption windows leads to the subluminal to superluminal transmission.