Negative Refraction in a Raman Chiral System Using Rare-earth Atoms

Zach J. Simmons

Shun‐Cai Zhao, Qixuan Wu, Ailing Gong

Michael Michael, Fleischhauer

Daniel Sikes, Deniz D. Yavuz

We present a scheme that achieves negative refraction with low absorption in far-off resonant atomic systems. The scheme utilizes Raman resonances and does not require the simultaneous presence of an electric-dipole transition and a magnetic-dipole transition near the same wavelength. We show that two interfering Raman tran-sitions coupled to a magnetic-dipole transition can achieve a negative index of refraction with low absorption through magnetoelectric cross-coupling. We confirm the validity of the analytical results with exact numerical simulations of the density matrix. We also discuss possible experimental implementations of the scheme in rare-earth metal atomic systems.

V. I. Rupasov

Liu Chun-Xu, Zhang Ji-Sen, Liu Jun-Ye +2 more

We first calculated the negative refractive index on the solid Er3+：YAlO3 crystal with a Λ-type four-level scheme proposed for atomic vapour by Thommen and Mandel and Kastel using quantum interference and electromagnetically induced transparency （EIT）. It is shown that the frequency band with the negative index is wider （～1 MHz） than that reported previously. Usually，Im［n］ is always positive，corresponding to absorption，and the ratio of refraction to absorption，|Re［n］/Im［n］|，is only of the order of unity. In our case the ratio |Re［n］/Im［n］|=4.6，which indicates that the absorption has been well suppressed by EIT approach. The negative Im［n］ may be related to the stimulated emission of 4I13/2→4I15/2 of rare earth ion Er3+. It indicates that the rare earth ion doped material with abundant energy levels and various electric and magnetic transitions is an outstanding and practical candidate for electromagnetically induced negative refractive index material.