Self-Pulsing in an Optical Ring Cavity Coupled with Three-Level Atoms

Wenge Yang

S. M. A. Maize

Hai Wang, David J. Goorskey, Min Xiao

Optical bistability and dynamic instability are experimentally observed and studied in a system consisting of three-level $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$-type rubidium atoms in an optical ring cavity. The bistable behavior and self-pulsing frequency are experimentally manipulated by changing the controlling and cavity field parameters (power and frequency). These nonlinear effects are influenced by the enhanced Kerr nonlinearity due to atomic coherence in such a system.

Wenge Yang, Amitabh Joshi, Min Xiao

Dynamic instability in the transmission field of an optical ring cavity containing three-level $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$-type rubidium atoms is studied in detail both experimentally and theoretically. The onset and periodicity of such dynamic oscillations in the cavity field can be controlled by the experimental parameters, such as intensity and frequency detuning of the coupling field and∕or cavity field. Such nonlinear dynamic behavior is caused by competition between optical saturation of the cavity field and optical population pumping by the coupling field in the three-level atomic system.

Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-UniversitBonn

L. Chotorlishvili, Z. Z. Toklikishvili