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Physics Today

Electromagnetically Induced Transparency

Stephen E. Harris

Published Jul 1, 1997• 4,043 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Electromagnetically induced transparency is a technique for eliminating the effect of a medium on a propagating beam of electromagnetic radiation. EIT may also be used, but under more limited conditions, to eliminate optical self-focusing and defocusing and to improve the transmission of laser beams through inhomogeneous refracting gases and metal vapors, as figure 1 illustrates. The technique may be used to create large populations of coherently driven uniformly phased atoms, thereby making possible new types of optoelectronic devices.

DOI
10.1063/1.881806

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Electromagnetically-induced focusing

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The theoretical basis for electromagnetically-induced focusing (EIF), which is caused by spatial variations in the coupling laser strength in an electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) experiment, is studied in detail. Using a numerical model it is shown that radial changes in both absorption and refractive index are important in predicting the probe beam's propagation conditions. Detailed calculations of the focusing and defocusing during EIF under various conditions are presented and compared with appropriate experiments. Diffractionlike patterns are predicted for, and observed on, a probe beam after propagation through a smaller EIT aperture. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

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Experimental Progress toward EIT in an Atomic Beam

Sean Tilton

EIT (Electromagnetically Induced Transparency) is a quantum optics phenomenon that occurs under specific conditions during a photon-atom interaction. Under such conditions, slow-light may be produced as a by-product of this effect. The purpose of this research is to adapt previous work on rubidium atoms in vapor cells to lithium atoms in a thermal beam. By doing so, the hope is to better understand the limitations of slow light and produce better results by eliminating atomic collisions within the system.

•Apr 27, 2018•0 citations
Electromagnetically induced transparency is a technique for eliminating the effect of a medium on a propagating beam of electromagnetic radiation. EIT may also be used, but under more limited conditions, to eliminate optical self-focusing and defocusing and to improve the transmission of laser beams through inhomogeneous refracting gases and metal vapors, as figure 1 illustrates. The technique may be used to create large populations of coherently driven uniformly phased atoms, thereby making possible new types of optoelectronic devices.
Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in an inhomogenously broadened medium consisting of Λ-type three-level atoms has been analyzed. It is shown that the Λ system can induce a transparency of the medium when the probe laser and the coupling laser have the same frequency detunings (including zero). Across the EIT window, the radial variation of the strong coupling laser radiation may lead to electromagnetically induced focusing or defocusing of the weak probe laser at separate probe frequency detuning points.
The theoretical basis for electromagnetically-induced focusing (EIF), which is caused by spatial variations in the coupling laser strength in an electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) experiment, is studied in detail. Using a numerical model it is shown that radial changes in both absorption and refractive index are important in predicting the probe beam's propagation conditions. Detailed calculations of the focusing and defocusing during EIF under various conditions are presented and compared with appropriate experiments. Diffractionlike patterns are predicted for, and observed on, a probe beam after propagation through a smaller EIT aperture. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Reabsorption of spontaneously emitted photons, or radiation trapping, is a process that occurs when light interacts with optically thick media. It is shown, both theoretically and experimentally, that this effect in optically thick atomic vapour leads to a decrease in transmission of coherent laser radiation propagating under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). A simple theory is developed taking into account the radiation trapping, which is in a good agreement with the experimental observations and exact numerical simulation. This allows better understanding of the physics of EIT in general, and properties of dense coherent atomic media in particular.
Coherent preparation by laser light of quantum states of atoms and molecules can lead to quantum interference in the amplitudes of optical transitions. In this way the optical properties of a medium can be dramatically modified, leading to electromagnetically induced transparency and related effects, which have placed gas-phase systems at the center of recent advances in the development of media with radically new optical properties. This article reviews these advances and the new possibilities they offer for nonlinear optics and quantum information science. As a basis for the theory of electromagnetically induced transparency the authors consider the atomic dynamics and the optical response of the medium to a continuous-wave laser. They then discuss pulse propagation and the adiabatic evolution of field-coupled states and show how coherently prepared media can be used to improve frequency conversion in nonlinear optical mixing experiments. The extension of these concepts to very weak optical fields in the few-photon limit is then examined. The review concludes with a discussion of future prospects and potential new applications.
EIT (Electromagnetically Induced Transparency) is a quantum optics phenomenon that occurs under specific conditions during a photon-atom interaction. Under such conditions, slow-light may be produced as a by-product of this effect. The purpose of this research is to adapt previous work on rubidium atoms in vapor cells to lithium atoms in a thermal beam. By doing so, the hope is to better understand the limitations of slow light and produce better results by eliminating atomic collisions within the system.