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Physical Review A

All-optical switching in a photonic crystal with a defect containing an N -type four-level atomic system

Vasily G. Arkhipkin, S. A. Myslivets

Published Dec 17, 2012• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We study the transmission spectra of a one-dimensional photonic crystal with a defect containing a four-level atomic medium that exhibits a greatly enhanced third-order susceptibility while having a vanishing linear susceptibility dependent on the electromagnetically induced transparency. Two ways of controlling the transmission of a photonic crystal are discussed: via absorption, i.e., nonlinear (two-photon) absorption of the probe field enhanced by constructive quantum interference, and via dispersion, which comes down to shifting the resonance frequency of the defect mode for the probe field by varying the refractive index based on the giant Kerr nonlinearity (cross-phase modulation). We demonstrate that such systems enable nonlinear all-optical switching at ultralow intensities of the coupling and switching laser fields.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.86.063816

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We study the transmission spectra of a one-dimensional photonic crystal with a defect containing a four-level atomic medium that exhibits a greatly enhanced third-order susceptibility while having a vanishing linear susceptibility dependent on the electromagnetically induced transparency. Two ways of controlling the transmission of a photonic crystal are discussed: via absorption, i.e., nonlinear (two-photon) absorption of the probe field enhanced by constructive quantum interference, and via dispersion, which comes down to shifting the resonance frequency of the defect mode for the probe field by varying the refractive index based on the giant Kerr nonlinearity (cross-phase modulation). We demonstrate that such systems enable nonlinear all-optical switching at ultralow intensities of the coupling and switching laser fields.
Summary form only given. The reduced absorption and enhanced nonlinearity in a three-level electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) system are very important in achieving an effective all-optical switching action. The Kerr-nonlinear index of refraction of a three-level EIT medium can be greatly enhanced near resonance due to atomic coherence induced in such a system in comparison with a two-level atomic system, as we have shown by using an optical ring cavity. Both the magnitude and sign of the Kerr-nonlinear index change dramatically for different frequency detunings of the controlling (or coupling) or cavity (or probe) field. Bistability and dynamic instability occur when such a three-level /spl Lambda/-type EIT system is placed inside an optical ring cavity and the controlling and cavity input intensities to exceed certain threshold values. In this paper, we present a recent experimental demonstration of controlling the cavity output intensity by modulating the frequency detuning of the controlling beam.
A possible switching mechanism has been investigated for nonlinear photonic crystals doped with an ensemble of non-interacting three-level nanoparticles. In this scheme, an intense pump laser field is used to change the refractive index of the nonlinear photonic crystal while a weaker probe field monitors an absorption transition in the nanoparticles. In the absence of the strong laser field the system transmits the probe field when the resonance energy of the nanoparticles lies near the edge of the photonic band gap due to strong coupling between the photonic crystal and the nanoparticles. However, upon application of an intense pump laser field the system becomes absorbing due to a band edge frequency shift that arises due to a nonlinear Kerr effect which changes the refractive index of the crystal. It is anticipated that the optical switching mechanism described in this work can be used to make new types of photonic devices.
Abstract We describe the linear and nonlinear optical properties of a four-level atomic system, after reducing it to an effective two-level atomic model under the condition of adiabatic shifting of resonances driven by two coherent off-resonant fields. The reduced form of the Hamiltonian corresponding to the two-level system is obtained by employing an adiabatic elimination procedure in the rate equations of the probability amplitudes for the proposed four-level model. For a weak probe field operating in the system, the nonlinear dependence of complex susceptibility on the Rabi frequencies and the detuning parameters of the off-resonant driving fields makes it possible to exhibit coherent control of single-photon and two-photon absorption and transparency, the evolution of enhanced Self-Kerr nonlinearity and noticeable dispersive switching. We have shown how the quantum interference results in the generic four-level model at the adiabatic limit. The present scheme describes the appearance of single-photon transparency without invoking any exact two-photon resonance.
We have studied nonlinear quantum optical effects in a doubly driven four-level atomic system in a homogeneously broadened regime. On application of two strong fields the system can be made to display double electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) because of constructive quantum interference giving rise to nonlinear absorption at three-photon resonance condition. This fact may be used to obtain other phenomena like the effect of photon switching in a pulsed regime and large cross phase modulation (XPM) effect. We also show that the behaviour of spatial modulation of transparency of the weak probe beam in a three-level system interacted with a strong standing wave pump field can be dramatically changed in our four-level ladder type system. Here, strong coupling field acting on the uppermost transition is represented by a standing wave whereas strong pump and weak probe fields acting successively on the lower transitions are represented by travelling waves. The effect of double EIT on nonlinear light generation based on the four-wave-mixing (FWM) technique is also investigated. We have examined that the four wave mixing efficiency can be effectively controlled by varying the strength of the pump field.
We explore the coherent control of nonlinear absorption of intense laser fields in four-level atomic systems. For instance, in a four-level ladder system, a coupling field creates electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) with an Aulter-Townes doublet for the probe field while the control field is absent. A large absorption peak appears at resonance as the control field is switched on. We show how such a large absorption leads to optical switching. Further, this large absorption diminishes and a transparency window appears due to the saturation effects as the strength of the probe field is increased. We further demonstrate that the threshold of the optical bistability can be modified by suitable choices of the coupling and the control fields. In a four-level Y\mathsf{Y}Y-type configuration, the effect of the control field on saturable absorption (SA) and reverse saturable absorption (RSA) is highlighted in the context of nonlinear absorption of the probe field. We achieve RSA and SA in a simple atomic system just by applying a control field.