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Optics Letters

Phase-modulation-induced reconfigurable rotating photonic lattices in atomic vapors

Yutong Shen, Yongping Huang, Jiaqi Yuan, Ruidong He, Shaohuan Ning, Zhiling He, Lijun Du, Yanpeng Zhang, Zhaoyang Zhang

Published Sep 23, 2024• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose a method to prepare optically induced rotating hexagonal and honey-comb photonic lattices by employing the phase modulated three-beam interference in atomic vapors with electromagnetically induced transparency. The phase differences among the three beams are dynamically elaborated to synthesize the circular motion (in transverse dimensions) of waveguides in the photonic lattices. Further, we verify this model experimentally in the case of low-speed modulation. A weak Gaussian probe field is sent into the constructed helical photonic lattices to image their structures under electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The motion trajectories of the sites on the discretized output patterns exhibit repeated circles, advocating the formation of rotating lattices. By introducing phase modulations to involved beams, we provide a continent way for producing transverse motions in waveguide arrays with reconfigurability in rotational direction, radius, and speed. This work looks forward to promising applications in topological photonics with great popularity.

DOI
10.1364/ol.539689

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We have experimentally demonstrated the realization of an instantaneously reconfigurable Lieb photonic lattice with a flatband in a three-level Λ-type rubidium atomic configuration. Such a coherently controllable Lieb photonic lattice is optically induced by a coupling field possessing a spatially periodic intensity distribution (generated via a spatial light modulator) under the condition of electromagnetically induced transparency. The incident weak Gaussian probe field can experience discrete diffraction and the observed probe beam at the output surface of the medium exhibits the same Lieb pattern, verifying the formation of the refractive index with a Lieb profile inside the atomic vapor cell. The potential wells and the band structure of the Lieb photonic lattice can be effectively manipulated by easily tuning the frequency of the involved laser beams. The current work can promisingly pave the way for exploring the exotic dynamics as well as tunable photonic devices in Lieb photonic lattices.
Abstract The array of coupled optical waveguides, which is also viewed as a photonic lattice, can exhibit abundant photonic band structures depending on the desired spatial arrangements of involved waveguides. Studies of photonic lattices are usually performed in solid‐state materials, where the required periodic susceptibilities can be achieved by employing the femtosecond laser direct‐writing or optical induction method, and have spawned flourishing achievements in manipulating the behaviors of light. Recently, the concept of electromagnetically induced photonic lattice (EIPL) is proposed under the well‐known electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in coherently prepared multilevel alkali‐metal atomic systems, where the strong coupling beams producing EIT possess spatially periodic intensity profiles. The inherited instantaneous tunability of susceptibility from EIT‐modulated atomic coherence allows for the easy reconfigurability of EIPLs, which gives rise to exotic beam dynamics under such a readily controllable framework. This paper summarizes the historical overview and recent advances of the in situ and all‐optically reconfigurable EIPLs. The Introduction section provides the scheme and formation of the EIPL via atomic coherence. The following sections review the recently demonstrated dynamical properties of light in various 1D and 2D EIPLs and in compound EIPLs built by two coupling fields. The final section gives brief concluding remarks.
We experimentally and theoretically demonstrate an electromagnetically induced binary photonic lattice with an instantaneously tunable flat band in a three-level85Rb atomic configuration. The transmitted binary patterns result from the diffraction of an injected Gaussian probe beam through the atomic vapor cell, in which the refractive index is modulated by a binary coupling field with alternating high- and low-intensity peaks under electromagnetically induced transparency. The binary coupling field is established by spatially superimposing two standing-wave fields whose periods differ by a factor of two. The transmitted patterns and the flat band can be readily modulated via controllable atomic coherence. Crucially, by tuning the Rabi frequencies to engineer the refractive index contrast, instantaneous switching of the flat band is achieved. This investigation provides a new method for producing tunable binary photonic lattices, which can serve as a promising platform for investigating the dynamical evolutions of wave packets.