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arXiv:quant-ph/0101147 · Physical Review Letters

Radiation Trapping in Coherent Media

Andrey B. Matsko, Irina V. Novikova, Marlan O. Scully, George R. Welch

Published Sep 5, 2001• 90 citations
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Abstract

We show that the effective decay rate of Zeeman coherence, generated in a (87)Rb vapor by linearly polarized laser light, increases significantly with the atomic density. We explain this phenomenon as the result of radiation trapping. Our study shows that radiation trapping must be taken into account to fully understand many electromagnetically induced transparency experiments with optically thick media.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.87.133601

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We show that the effective decay rate of Zeeman coherence, generated in a (87)Rb vapor by linearly polarized laser light, increases significantly with the atomic density. We explain this phenomenon as the result of radiation trapping. Our study shows that radiation trapping must be taken into account to fully understand many electromagnetically induced transparency experiments with optically thick media.
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.
Abstract In this work, we have presented the variation of the amplitude of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) resonances with the density of the atom in a V-type system using 87 Rb D 1 and D 2 lines both theoretically and experimentally. Up to the value of atomic density 18.1 × 10 10 cm −3 , the amplitude of the EIT resonance gradually increases with the increase of atomic density and then it decreases with the increase of the density of the atom. We have also found the radiation trapping effect in this experiment. We observe the effect of the atomic density on the electromagnetically induced transparency when the systems act as a thin optical media as well as thick optical media. We have found that the amplitude of EIT also depends on pump laser Rabi frequency. Numerical simulations are agreed well with the experimental observations.
The preparation of an optically dense ensemble of three- level systems in dark states of the interaction with coherent radiation is discussed. It is shown that methods involving spontaneous emissions of photons such as Raman optical pumping fail to work beyond a critical density due to multiple scattering and trapping of these photons and the associated decay of the dark state(s). In optically thick media coherent-state preparation is only possible by entirely coherent means such as stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP). It is shown that STIRAP is the underlying physical mechanism for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT).
We describe the influence of radiation trapping on the spatial distribution of the excited-state population in sodium vapor, interacting with a linearly polarized Gaussian laser beam. Counterintuitively the excitation volume experiences a strong spatial shrinking at high optical depth. The interpretation of this nonlocal effect is based on the numerical solution of the stationary Holstein equation, which takes into account the full frequency dependence of the reabsorption probability within the process of diffusion of radiation. The calculations performed are in good qualitative agreement with the spatial effects observed experimentally. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Storage of light pulses in Rb vapour with bright Zeeman coherences and the associated enhanced absorption and steep negative dispersion is reported. Our experimental observations are qualitatively similar to the well-known proof-of-principle demonstration of light storage (D F Phillips et al 2001 Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 783), but obtained under conditions where electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) does not exist and the slow-light dark-state polariton model does not apply. Under the present experimental conditions the retrieved pulses obtained in atomic media with dark or bright Zeeman coherences have very similar exponentially decaying slopes which are independent of the shape of the incoming signal pulse. Numerical modelling based on the optical Bloch equations reproduces the essential features of the experimental observations.