To overcome the conventional slow-light limitation that the product of EIT window and time delay is almost one, the matched multi-Λ scheme has the potential to broaden transparency window while maintaining a large group-velocity delay.
In this paper, a new counter-propagation waves coupling mechanism is proposed which is expected to realize an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)-like effect. Comparing the travelling waves coupling mechanism (see J. Mod. Opt. 2015,62:313-320 [9]) with the counter-propagating waves coupling mechanism, we find out that the transparency window breadths of transmission spectra are greatly enhanced and the corresponding phase shift spectra possess a flat profile or a square profile. Our numerical simulated results are in good agreement with the theoretical analysis. The EIT-like effect can significantly reduce the group velocity near the edge of the square profile transparent window. We believe that the counter-propagating waves coupling mechanism is particularly beneficial for the realization of active manipulation of slow light devices (such as delay lines) required in the conventional EIT scheme. In the vicinity of the transparency peak, we can obtain a large group delay, may gain more significant potential applications in slow-light transmission and optical storage.
Electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) in three-level Λ-systems is based on quantum interference effects involving coherence between the two lower levels, which allow propagation of a resonant probe light beam in the presence of a strong coupling field. We have observed transparency in ultra-narrow (<10 kHz) windows at the resonant 1.083 μm transition for purely electronic spins in gaseous 4 He* at room temperature. Slow light is an interesting outcome of the EIT phenomenon due to extreme dispersion within the narrow transparency window. We have obtained group delays of about 4 μs in a 2.5 cm long He* cell. A complete theoretical analysis explains our observations emphasizing the positive role of collisions. Slow light with 1-GHz Doppler broadening opens the door to applications of controllable large-bandwidth delays in radars.
We consider the propagation of a Gaussian probe pulse in an absorptive, optically dense, two-level medium if a deep, persistent hole is created in advance by another pump field in the inhomogeneously broadened absorption spectrum of this medium. Both fields are well separated in time and the lifetime of the hole is assumed to be long with respect to the delay time between the pump and probe pulses. We show that the group velocity of the Gaussian probe pulse reduces several orders in magnitude, similarly to the reduction of the group velocity for the probe field in electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) phenomena. In contrast to EIT, the width of the transparency window can be made very wide because of the saturation broadening of the hole.