This thesis presents theoretical models and results of numerical simulations describing the propagation of optical pulses through dense, thermal atomic vapours. In particular we investigate the nonlinear effects of optical solitons due to self-induced transparency (SIT) in two-level systems, optical simultons in V-type three-level systems and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in Λ-type systems, including the storage and retrieval of dark-state polaritons. An investigation is made into two-photon excitation of the 5D states of rubidium in a high-intensity beam including the hyperfine structure of the relevant atomic levels. Decay from these states to the 6P manifolds is ruled out as a cause of experimentally observed fluorescence due to the amount of power broadening associated with intensities necessary to provide any significant level of population in these highly excited states. We combine the nonlinear effects of optical solitons and EIT to explain experimentally observed steepened pulses in a V-type system in a micron-length cell. We explain the behaviour as the early formation of a simulton pulse drawn from a CW probe field by a strong coupling pulse, due to coherent population trapping. We predict that in a longer cell it may be possible to facilitate propagation of matched pulses, even when the transitions in the system have different propagation coefficients, as long as decoherence from collision broadening can be controlled. The fact that weak pulses can propagate with this scheme suggests an approach to achieving transparent propagation of single or few photon pulses distinct from, but related to, both SIT and EIT.
This thesis presents theoretical models and results of numerical simulations describing the propagation of optical pulses through dense, thermal atomic vapours. In particular we investigate the nonlinear effects of optical solitons due to self-induced transparency (SIT) in two-level systems, optical simultons in V-type three-level systems and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in Λ-type systems, including the storage and retrieval of dark-state polaritons. An investigation is made into two-photon excitation of the 5D states of rubidium in a high-intensity beam including the hyperfine structure of the relevant atomic levels. Decay from these states to the 6P manifolds is ruled out as a cause of experimentally observed fluorescence due to the amount of power broadening associated with intensities necessary to provide any significant level of population in these highly excited states. We combine the nonlinear effects of optical solitons and EIT to explain experimentally observed steepened pulses in a V-type system in a micron-length cell. We explain the behaviour as the early formation of a simulton pulse drawn from a CW probe field by a strong coupling pulse, due to coherent population trapping. We predict that in a longer cell it may be possible to facilitate propagation of matched pulses, even when the transitions in the system have different propagation coefficients, as long as decoherence from collision broadening can be controlled. The fact that weak pulses can propagate with this scheme suggests an approach to achieving transparent propagation of single or few photon pulses distinct from, but related to, both SIT and EIT.
This thesis set out to investigate light storage based on dynamic electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a room-temperature atomic ensemble of rubidium as a means to provide a quantum memory for single-photons created by a single rubidium atom coupled to a high-finesse optical resonator. Setting up the light storage medium presented a new addition to the research group's portfolio of experimental techniques and led to investigations of EIT, slow light and stored light in warm rubidium-87 vapour. Lambda level schemes connecting Zeeman or hyperfine substates on the D1 and D2 lines were addressed in rubidium vapour cells containing different buffer gases and different isotopic fractions of rubidium-87 and rubidium-85. Single beam spectroscopy with a weak probe was used to characterise the vapour cells. A numerical method to fit the D line spectrum to a theoretical model to include isotopic fractions and collisional broadening of a buffer gas has been implemented. Temperature and isotopic fractions could be reliably extracted from the fit parameters. For an offset-stabilisation of two lasers to address a lambda level scheme connecting the two different hyperfine groundstates in rubidium a phase locked loop including a frequency divider has been designed and implemented. Light storage and retrieval has been demonstrated using a Zeeman scheme on the D1 line. Two microsecond long classical light pulses containing one million photons on average were stored and retrieved with an efficiency of 15% after a delay of one microsecond. Several methods of attenuating the strong co-propagating control laser beam to allow for lowering the signal pulse intensity in future experiments are discussed.
Quantum coherence and interference in atomic systems can lead to interesting optical phenomena such as nonabsorbing resonances, lasing without inversion, generating an ultrahigh index of refraction without absorption, propagation of light pulses without losses. In the last-named is given the title transparency. Up to now it is known some types of transparency in multi-level resonant media. One of them is electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The phenomenon of EIT in the propagation of laser radiation through an absorbing medium has been recently investigated and explained in terms of quantum coherence and interference for multi-level atomic system. For instance in the (Lambda) -system, if the atomic medium is prepared in a quantum superposition of states, matched pulses, i.e., a pair of optical pulses whose amplitude and phase have a well defined relation, propagate without absorption. The mechanism of coherent population trapping is responsible for EIT in a (Lambda) -system. There is another, well known mechanism for creating transparency in a two-state atom: self-induced transparency, or SIT. Here, a single pulse whose area (the integral of its Rabi frequency over time) is 2(pi) is applied to the medium. Such a pulse causes the atoms to cycle smoothly from the ground to the excited state and then back again. In principle, such a pulse can propagate over long distances. SIT can be generalized to multi-level systems and multiple quasi-monochromatic fields. Generalization of SIT in a (Lambda) -system was obtained in reference 2. In this report we present a new type of transparency (combined transparency). This type describes propagation of laser pulse through a (Lambda) -type medium where the initial atomic state is prepared in the form of spatially varying coherent superposition of low-energetic states (initial coherency gradient). The common envelope behaves as usual 2(pi) hyperbolic secant pulse, but the ratio between the components of frequencies transitions 1> yields 3> and 2> yields 3> changes due to coherent Raman scattering so (phi) equals atan(E1/E2) equals (pi) /2-Gz, where z is the coordinate, G is the constant determined by both the incident pulse parameters and the initial coherence between the atomic states. Our solution demonstrates a direct connection of EIT in adiabatic regime to the SIT effects. This type of a transparency is given the title screw-type transparency, because for the given form of incident pulse (pitch of screw) medium is transparent, if medium's the initial coherence gradient is correspondingly prepared (thread on a engine nut). Besides a transparency, this phenomenon contains a transformation of the incident pulse frequency during the process of the propagation. This property of the phenomena can be result in a complete conversion of the frequency.
In this work quantum coherence effects in dense rubidium atomic vapour are investigated. Prepared in a laser driven atomic system, coherent effects, like the well-known electromagnetically induced transparency, have a remarkable ability to significantly alter optical properties of the used medium. Electromagnetically induced transparency and related phenomena like slow and stored light can be explained in terms of dark state polaritons, representing quasiparticles consisting of light and matter components. In this thesis, experiments aiming to the concept of quasiparticles are described. Furthermore, in this thesis the concept of resonance retrieval of a stored coherence is investigated, a concept that might prove useful in metrology. In this thesis, the focus is set on the experimental study of the particle-like nature of dark state polaritons. Therefore, a radiofrequency spectroscopy is performed on stationary and moving polaritons with an internal level structure. To this end, an experimental setup is described that allows for the existence of two state dark polaritons in a tripod level scheme. The internal level structure of these polaritons is then probed by a radiofrequency field and a transfer of population between two dark states is observed. The measured population transfer, though with a limited contrast, strongly indicates that dark state polaritons can be considered as quasiparticles with an internal level structure. Since the dark state polaritons exhibit features of an effective magnetic dipole moment, the existence of the Aharonov-Casher phase effect for these quasiparticles is investigated experimentally. It is predicted by a known Aharonov-Casher effect that taking two particles with a finite magnetic dipole moment around a line of charge causes an accumulated phase difference between them. In this work, a detection system with a phase sensitivity of 10-5 rad is described, which sets the upper boundary on the experimentally detectable Aharonov-Casher phase for the hot rubidium gas system. In the last part of this thesis experiments on storage and resonant retrieval of an atomic coherence are described. To this end, an RF field creates an atomic coherence which is stored and subsequently read out with an optical field. The retrieved field is shown to be frequency locked to the optical field. The difference frequency is, within the limits of experimental sensitivity, at the atomic resonance frequency independently on the amplitude and frequency variations of the radiofrequency excitation field.
This thesis explores the existence and properties of self-induced transparency (SIT) solitons in nanophotonic waveguides. SIT solitons are shape-preserving solutions of the semi-classical Maxwell-Bloch equations, a system of nonlinearly coupled differential equations. In a first investigation, collisions of counterpropagating simultons (SIT solitons in absorbing three-level systems) are studied numerically in the plane-wave approximation and a polarisation- and group-velocity dependent soliton birth is uncovered. Apart from their fundamental interest, such light-light interaction effects may be of use for optical computing applications if they can be transferred to tightly confined light pulses. Confining light is usually achieved by using dielectric waveguides that exhibit group velocity dispersion leading to chirped pulses, which experience absorption when entering an absorbing medium. If the chirp is strong enough and the pulse intense enough, they can even completely invert an absorber. When investigating chirped pulse propagation through a dense ensemble of two-level system it is found that the chirped pulses dynamically reshape into unchirped pulses experiencing transparency. Furthermore, the conditions on the waveguide geometry to enable SIT are analysed, identifying a nanophotonic slot waveguide with a low-index gap, exhibiting high electric field enhancement and a homogeneous field profile, as the ideal candidate system for guided SIT solitons. This analysis is supported by two-dimensional numerical calculations that show the solitary character is maintained during propagation if the absorber density is high enough to ensure a slow-down of the pulse and to thus counteract the waveguide dispersion. Finally, the soliton birth due to simulton collisions and optical memory schemes proposed for plane-wave SIT are investigated in the two-dimensional slot waveguide and found to also be possible in this geometry.
We study the propagation dynamics of a single pair of probe and coupling laser pulses in a three-level cascade atomic medium by numerical solving the Maxwell-Bloch equations for atoms and fields. Influences of the pulse durations, intensity and pulse area of the coupling laser on the probe laser propagation are investigated. We found the conditions that the undistorted probe pulse in such i.e., the effect is established. Under conditions, the ground state population is trapped in a dark state. Full Text: PDF References A. Imamoglu, S.E. Harris, Lasers without inversion: interference of dressed lifetime-broadened states, Opt. Lett. 14 (1989) 1344. CrossRef K.J. Boller, A. Imamoglu, S.E. Harris, Observation of electromagnetically induced transparency, Phys. Rev. Lett. 66 (1991) 2593. CrossRef A.S. Zibrov, M.D. Lukin, D.E. Nikonov, L. Hollberg, M.O. Scully, V.L. Velichansky, and H.G. Robinson, Experimental Demonstration of Laser Oscillation without Population Inversion via Quantum Interference in Rb, Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 (1995) 1499. CrossRef L.V. Hau, S. E. Harris, Z. Dutton, C.H. Bejroozi, speed reduction to 17 metres per second in an ultracold atomic gas, Nature, 397 (1999) 594. CrossRef L.V. Doai, D.X. Khoa, and N.H. Bang, EIT enhanced self-Kerr nonlinearity in the three-level lambda system under Doppler broadening, Phys. Scr. 90 (2015)045502. CrossRef D.X. Khoa, L.V. Doai, D.H. Son, and N.H. Bang, Enhancement of self-Kerr nonlinearity via electromagnetically induced transparency in a five-level cascade system: an analytical approach, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 31, N6 (2014), pp. 1330. CrossRef F.T. Hioe and R. Grobe, Matched Optical Solitary Waves for Three- and Five-Level Systems, Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, (1994) 2559. CrossRef S.E. Harris and Z.F. Luo, Preparation energy for electromagnetically induced transparency, Phys. Rev. A. 52 (1995) R928. CrossRef V. G. Arkhipkin, I.V. Timofeev, Adiabatic propagation of short pulses under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency, Quantum Electronics, 30 (2000) 180. CrossRef M. Kiffner, T. N. Dey, Dynamical control of pulse propagation in electromagnetically induced transparency, Phys. Rev. A. 79 (2009) 023829. CrossRef R. Yu, J. Li, P. Huang, A. Zheng, X. Yang, Dynamic control of light propagation and optical switching through an RF-driven cascade-type atomic medium, Phys. Lett. A. 373 (2009) 2992. CrossRef E. Paspalakis,N. J. Kylstra and P. L. Knight, Propagation and nonlinear generation dynamics in a coherently prepared four-level system, Phys. Rev. A 65 (2002) 053808. CrossRef E. Ignesti, R. Buffa, L. Fini, E. Sali, M. V. Tognetti, S. Cavalieri, Controlling the propagation of broadband light pulses by Induced Transparency, Opt. Commun, 285 (2012) 1185. CrossRef P. R. Bermanand C. H. Raymond Ooi, Pulse propagation in a medium of ?-type atoms, Phys. Rev. A 86 (2012), 053812. CrossRef G. Buica, T. Nakajima, Propagation of two short laser pulse trains in a ?-type three-level medium under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency, Opt. Commun. 332 (2014) 59. CrossRef L. V. Doai, P. V. Trong, D. X. Khoa, and Ng. H. Bang, Electromagnetically induced transparency in five-level cascade scheme of 85Rb atoms: An analytical approach, Optik, 125 (2014) 3666?3669. CrossRef J.H. Eberly, Transmission of dressed fields in three-level media, Quantum Semiclass. Opt. 7 (1995) 373. CrossRef M.D. Crisp, Propagation of Small-Area Pulses of Coherent Light through a Resonant Medium, Phys. Rev. A 1 (1970) 1604. CrossRef
We study the propagation dynamics of a single pair of probe and coupling laser pulses in a three-level cascade atomic medium by numerical solving the Maxwell-Bloch equations for atoms and fields. Influences of the pulse durations, intensity and pulse area of the coupling laser on the probe laser propagation are investigated. We found the conditions that the undistorted probe pulse in such medium, i.e., the EIT effect is established. Under EIT conditions, the ground state population is trapped in a dark state. Full Text: PDF References A. Imamoglu, S.E. Harris, "Lasers without inversion: interference of dressed lifetime-broadened states", Opt. Lett. 14 (1989) 1344. CrossRef K.J. Boller, A. Imamoglu, S.E. Harris, "Observation of electromagnetically induced transparency", Phys. Rev. Lett. 66 (1991) 2593. CrossRef A.S. Zibrov, M.D. Lukin, D.E. Nikonov, L. Hollberg, M.O. Scully, V.L. Velichansky, and H.G. Robinson, "Experimental Demonstration of Laser Oscillation without Population Inversion via Quantum Interference in Rb", Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 (1995) 1499. CrossRef L.V. Hau, S. E. Harris, Z. Dutton, C.H. Bejroozi, "Light speed reduction to 17 metres per second in an ultracold atomic gas", Nature, 397 (1999) 594. CrossRef L.V. Doai, D.X. Khoa, and N.H. Bang, "EIT enhanced self-Kerr nonlinearity in the three-level lambda system under Doppler broadening", Phys. Scr. 90 (2015)045502. CrossRef D.X. Khoa, L.V. Doai, D.H. Son, and N.H. Bang, "Enhancement of self-Kerr nonlinearity via electromagnetically induced transparency in a five-level cascade system: an analytical approach", J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 31, N6 (2014), pp. 1330. CrossRef F.T. Hioe and R. Grobe, "Matched Optical Solitary Waves for Three- and Five-Level Systems", Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, (1994) 2559. CrossRef S.E. Harris and Z.F. Luo, "Preparation energy for electromagnetically induced transparency", Phys. Rev. A. 52 (1995) R928. CrossRef V. G. Arkhipkin, I.V. Timofeev, "Adiabatic propagation of short pulses under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency", Quantum Electronics, 30 (2000) 180. CrossRef M. Kiffner, T. N. Dey, "Dynamical control of pulse propagation in electromagnetically induced transparency", Phys. Rev. A. 79 (2009) 023829. CrossRef R. Yu, J. Li, P. Huang, A. Zheng, X. Yang, "Dynamic control of light propagation and optical switching through an RF-driven cascade-type atomic medium", Phys. Lett. A. 373 (2009) 2992. CrossRef E. Paspalakis,N. J. Kylstra and P. L. Knight, "Propagation and nonlinear generation dynamics in a coherently prepared four-level system", Phys. Rev. A 65 (2002) 053808. CrossRef E. Ignesti, R. Buffa, L. Fini, E. Sali, M. V. Tognetti, S. Cavalieri, "Controlling the propagation of broadband light pulses by Electromagnetically Induced Transparency", Opt. Commun, 285 (2012) 1185. CrossRef P. R. Bermanand C. H. Raymond Ooi, "Pulse propagation in a medium of ?-type atoms", Phys. Rev. A 86 (2012), 053812. CrossRef G. Buica, T. Nakajima, "Propagation of two short laser pulse trains in a ?-type three-level medium under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency", Opt. Commun. 332 (2014) 59. CrossRef L. V. Doai, P. V. Trong, D. X. Khoa, and Ng. H. Bang, "Electromagnetically induced transparency in five-level cascade scheme of 85Rb atoms: An analytical approach", Optik, 125 (2014) 3666?3669. CrossRef J.H. Eberly, "Transmission of dressed fields in three-level media", Quantum Semiclass. Opt. 7 (1995) 373. CrossRef M.D. Crisp, "Propagation of Small-Area Pulses of Coherent Light through a Resonant Medium", Phys. Rev. A 1 (1970) 1604. CrossRef