Nonlinear optics and quantum entanglement of ultra-slow photons

Lene Vestergaard Hau

Sang-Kyung Choi, Hee Su Park

Mikhail D. Lukin, Ataç İmamoğlu

Summary form only given. Exciting observations of ultra-slow group velocities and very large nonlinearities in coherently driven atomic media open up interesting prospectives for nonlinear optical processes at low light levels. Recent experiments, for instance, demonstrated that very efficient nonlinear phenomena can be induced by laser fields of tiny energies. These developments stimulate the studies of ultimate efficiency limits for nonlinear optics based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) as well as its possible applications for generation and manipulation of quantum entangled states of the light fields and matter. We describe a particular method that allows for two slow light fields of energies corresponding to that of a single photon to interact coherently.

Azmat Iqbal Bashir, Syeda Uzma Batool, Ayesha Arif +1 more

Abstract Controlling the basic properties of light such as polarization, angular momentum, and speed through various optical media leads to interesting phenomena in various fields such as quantum optics, photonics, plasmonics, and quantum information technology. Few of the phenomenon include, for instance, light storage, ultra-slow and ultra-fast propagation, optical transparency, and quantum entanglement via quantum coherence or superposition. The understanding of these phenomenon of milestone implications paved the way for the invention of novel classical and quantum technology. In this article, we present detailed theoretical and numerical demonstration on the dispersion-dependent phenomenon of slow and fast light, optically induced transparency, and photon drag. For this, we employ a three-level scheme of an ensemble of GaAs\AlGaAs double quantum dot molecule in cascade configuration. In particular, by tuning the medium dispersion we predict interesting interplay between ultra-slow and ultra-fast light propagation with vanishing, infinite, ultra-positive and ultra-negative group velocities, and optical-assisted quantum transparency. The quantum coherence of the dressed states modifies considerably the optical properties of the system in view of dispersion, absorption, electron energy loss, transmission, and photon drag. An interesting interplay between ultra-slow to ultra-fast propagation is found by tuning various optical parameters. The calculated superluminal value of group velocity is ± 6 × 1 0 11 m s −1 . We also predict light propagation at vanishing and infinite group velocity. The calculated light drag is ± 6 × 10 − 6 rad/m.

Vincenzo Macr `i, Anton Frisk Kockum, Roberto Stassi +3 more

Vincenzo Macrí