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 Physical Society of Japan

A Numerical Analysis of a Light Slowing and Storage

Young-Tak Chough

Published Nov 5, 2015• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We provide an in-depth numerical study on creation of stationary light pulses (SLP) in a cold atomic medium, locating the optimal parameter space for experimental realization. We visualize the dynamics of the atoms and the field inside the medium. We find that as the coupling field strength increases, the light slowing effect is actually diminished. It also turns out that the spatial profile of the pulse inside the medium is indeed not symmetric around its apex, and we point out that this asymmetry causes the energy imbalance between the two signals retrieved into the opposite directions, in addition to such extrinsic reasons as the disparity between the coupling field strengths or the imperfect centering of the pulse in the medium at the time of “writing”.

DOI
10.7566/jpsj.84.124401

Related papers

Stationary Light Pulses in Cold Atomic Media and without Bragg Gratings

Yen-Wei Lin, Wen-Te Liao, Thorsten Peters +5 more

We study the creation of stationary light pulses (SLPs), i.e., light pulses without motion, based on the effect of electromagnetically induced transparency with two counterpropagating coupling fields in cold atoms. We show that the Raman excitations created by counterpropagating probe and coupling fields prohibit the formation of SLPs in media of cold and stationary atoms such as laser-cooled atom clouds, Bose condensates or color-center crystals. A method is experimentally demonstrated to suppress these Raman excitations and SLPs are realized in laser-cooled atoms. Furthermore, we report the first experimental observation of a bichromatic SLP at wavelengths for which no Bragg grating can be established. Our work advances the understanding of SLPs and opens a new avenue to SLP studies for few-photon nonlinear interactions.

arXiv:0810.0903•Physical Review Letters•May 28, 2009•127 citations

Observation of phase variation within stationary light pulses inside a cold atomic medium

Thorsten Peters, Yi‐Hsin Chen, Jian-Siung Wang +2 more

The successful formation of stationary light pulses in a cold atomic medium was demonstrated recently. However, unlike in hot media, a detuning between the counterpropagating fields had to be applied. Here we demonstrate that a significant nonuniform phase variation can be induced during a period of stationary light owing to off-resonantly driven transitions. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions for media of low optical depth. For media of high optical depth the numerical simulations indicate that such phase variation becomes negligible. Thus stationary light based on this coupling scheme could be used for possible future applications in quantum information processing.

Optics Letters•Jan 12, 2010•12 citations

Simultaneous Trapping of Two Optical Pulses in an Atomic Ensemble as Stationary Light Pulses

U-Shin Kim, Yoon-Ho Kim

The stationary light pulse (SLP) refers to a zero-group-velocity optical pulse in an atomic ensemble prepared by two counter-propagating driving fields. Despite the uniqueness of an optical pulse trapped within an atomic medium without a cavity, observations of SLP so far have been limited to trapping a single optical pulse due to the stringent SLP phase-matching condition, and this has severely hindered the development of SLP-based applications. Here, we first show theoretically that the SLP process in fact supports two phase-matching conditions and we then utilize the result to experimentally demonstrate simultaneous SLP trapping of two optical pulses for the duration from$0.8\ \mu \mathsf{s}$to$2.0\ \mu \mathsf{s}$. The characteristic dissipation time, obtained by the release efficiency measurement, is$1.22\ \mu \mathsf{s}$, which corresponds to an effective Q-factor of$2.9\times 10^{9}$[1]. As our SLP system reports a large effective N-atom cooperativity of$8\times 10^{6}$, our work is expected to bring forth interesting SLP-based applications, such as, efficient photon-photon interaction, spatially multi-mode coherent quantum memory, creation of exotic photonic gas states, etc.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)•Jun 26, 2023•0 citations

Storage and retrieval of light pulses in atomic media with “slow” and “fast” light

A. Lezama, A. M. Akulshin, Andrei I. Sidorov +1 more

We report experimental evidence that light storage, understood as the controlled release of a light pulse by an atomic sample dependent on the past presence of a writing pulse, is not restricted to small-group-velocity media but can also occur in a negative-group-velocity medium. We present a numerical modeling in close agreement with our observations and a simple physical picture applicable to light storage experiments in both ``slow'' and ``fast'' light media.

arXiv:physics/0506199•Physical Review A•Mar 3, 2006•46 citations

On the retrieval efficiency of light storage in an EIT medium

Young-Tak Chough

We investigate the retrieval efficiency of light slowed and/or stored in a medium with electromagnetically-induced transparency (an EIT medium) by numerical simulations based on first principles. Starting from the master equation formulation, we derive the full dynamics of the system and then show how the approximations are applied to reduce the number of dynamical equations. While operating the system as an optical “retarder,” a “reflector,” and a “beam-splitter,” we find that the total retrieval efficiency in the case of the “beam-splitter” operation is lower than that in either of the other two operations. Nevertheless, we find that (1) when an appropriate value of detuning is applied between the two counter-propagating “ read ”-fields, the retrieval efficiency in the latter case can be significantly improved, (2) storing the signal in the form of the atomic spin wave is more advantageous than storing it in the form of a stationary light pulse (SLP), and (3) the retrieval efficiency can be augmented by increasing the strengths of the “ read ”-fields.

Journal of the Korean Physical Society•Aug 1, 2016•3 citations

Simultaneous Trapping of Two Optical Pulses in an Atomic Ensemble as Stationary Light Pulses

U-Shin Kim, Yoon-Ho Kim

The stationary light pulse (SLP) refers to a zero-group-velocity optical pulse in an atomic ensemble prepared by two counterpropagating driving fields. Despite the uniqueness of an optical pulse trapped within an atomic medium without a cavity, observations of SLP so far have been limited to trapping a single optical pulse due to the stringent SLP phase-matching condition, and this has severely hindered the development of SLP-based applications. In this Letter, we first show theoretically that the SLP process in fact supports two phase-matching conditions and we then utilize the result to experimentally demonstrate simultaneous SLP trapping of two optical pulses for the duration from 0.8 to 2.0 μs. The characteristic dissipation time, obtained by the release efficiency measurement from the SLP trapping state, is 1.22 μs, which corresponds to an effective Q factor of 2.9×10^{9}. Our Letter is expected to bring forth interesting SLP-based applications, such as, efficient photon-photon interaction, spatially multimode coherent quantum memory, creation of exotic photonic gas states, etc.

arXiv:2208.06109•Physical Review Letters•Aug 23, 2022•12 citations
We provide an in-depth numerical study on creation of stationary light pulses (SLP) in a cold atomic medium, locating the optimal parameter space for experimental realization. We visualize the dynamics of the atoms and the field inside the medium. We find that as the coupling field strength increases, the light slowing effect is actually diminished. It also turns out that the spatial profile of the pulse inside the medium is indeed not symmetric around its apex, and we point out that this asymmetry causes the energy imbalance between the two signals retrieved into the opposite directions, in addition to such extrinsic reasons as the disparity between the coupling field strengths or the imperfect centering of the pulse in the medium at the time of “writing”.
We study the creation of stationary light pulses (SLPs), i.e., light pulses without motion, based on the effect of electromagnetically induced transparency with two counterpropagating coupling fields in cold atoms. We show that the Raman excitations created by counterpropagating probe and coupling fields prohibit the formation of SLPs in media of cold and stationary atoms such as laser-cooled atom clouds, Bose condensates or color-center crystals. A method is experimentally demonstrated to suppress these Raman excitations and SLPs are realized in laser-cooled atoms. Furthermore, we report the first experimental observation of a bichromatic SLP at wavelengths for which no Bragg grating can be established. Our work advances the understanding of SLPs and opens a new avenue to SLP studies for few-photon nonlinear interactions.
The successful formation of stationary light pulses in a cold atomic medium was demonstrated recently. However, unlike in hot media, a detuning between the counterpropagating fields had to be applied. Here we demonstrate that a significant nonuniform phase variation can be induced during a period of stationary light owing to off-resonantly driven transitions. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions for media of low optical depth. For media of high optical depth the numerical simulations indicate that such phase variation becomes negligible. Thus stationary light based on this coupling scheme could be used for possible future applications in quantum information processing.
The stationary light pulse (SLP) refers to a zero-group-velocity optical pulse in an atomic ensemble prepared by two counter-propagating driving fields. Despite the uniqueness of an optical pulse trapped within an atomic medium without a cavity, observations of SLP so far have been limited to trapping a single optical pulse due to the stringent SLP phase-matching condition, and this has severely hindered the development of SLP-based applications. Here, we first show theoretically that the SLP process in fact supports two phase-matching conditions and we then utilize the result to experimentally demonstrate simultaneous SLP trapping of two optical pulses for the duration from0.8 μs0.8\ \mu \mathsf{s}0.8 μsto2.0 μs2.0\ \mu \mathsf{s}2.0 μs. The characteristic dissipation time, obtained by the release efficiency measurement, is1.22 μs1.22\ \mu \mathsf{s}1.22 μs, which corresponds to an effective Q-factor of2.9×1092.9\times 10^{9}2.9×109[1]. As our SLP system reports a large effective N-atom cooperativity of8×1068\times 10^{6}8×106, our work is expected to bring forth interesting SLP-based applications, such as, efficient photon-photon interaction, spatially multi-mode coherent quantum memory, creation of exotic photonic gas states, etc.
We investigate the retrieval efficiency of light slowed and/or stored in a medium with electromagnetically-induced transparency (an EIT medium) by numerical simulations based on first principles. Starting from the master equation formulation, we derive the full dynamics of the system and then show how the approximations are applied to reduce the number of dynamical equations. While operating the system as an optical “retarder,” a “reflector,” and a “beam-splitter,” we find that the total retrieval efficiency in the case of the “beam-splitter” operation is lower than that in either of the other two operations. Nevertheless, we find that (1) when an appropriate value of detuning is applied between the two counter-propagating “ read ”-fields, the retrieval efficiency in the latter case can be significantly improved, (2) storing the signal in the form of the atomic spin wave is more advantageous than storing it in the form of a stationary light pulse (SLP), and (3) the retrieval efficiency can be augmented by increasing the strengths of the “ read ”-fields.
The stationary light pulse (SLP) refers to a zero-group-velocity optical pulse in an atomic ensemble prepared by two counterpropagating driving fields. Despite the uniqueness of an optical pulse trapped within an atomic medium without a cavity, observations of SLP so far have been limited to trapping a single optical pulse due to the stringent SLP phase-matching condition, and this has severely hindered the development of SLP-based applications. In this Letter, we first show theoretically that the SLP process in fact supports two phase-matching conditions and we then utilize the result to experimentally demonstrate simultaneous SLP trapping of two optical pulses for the duration from 0.8 to 2.0 μs. The characteristic dissipation time, obtained by the release efficiency measurement from the SLP trapping state, is 1.22 μs, which corresponds to an effective Q factor of 2.9×10^{9}. Our Letter is expected to bring forth interesting SLP-based applications, such as, efficient photon-photon interaction, spatially multimode coherent quantum memory, creation of exotic photonic gas states, etc.