Coherent control of refractive index in far-detuned systems Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Enhancement and control of the index of refraction in a mixture of two three-level atomic species that form a pair of far-detuned schemes under two-photon resonance has been studied. We employ the density-matrix approach to properly take population relaxation into account and to describe the interaction of each system with the electromagnetic fields. Both systems are driven by a corresponding far-detuned coherent field at one atomic transition and are probed by the same weak field. In the dressed-state basis, it represents a superposition of effective two-level subsystems with the positions, widths, and amplitudes of the resonances controlled by the driving fields and allows for efficient control of the susceptibility of the total system; leading to refractive index (RI) enhancement with vanishing absorption in the absence of amplification. We analyze the experimental implementation of such a system in a cell of Rb atoms with a natural abundance of isotopes. An upper limit estimate of the RI enhancement is obtained. 2011 American Physical Society.

published proceedings

  • Physical Review A

author list (cited authors)

  • OBrien, C., Anisimov, P. M., Rostovtsev, Y., & Kocharovskaya, O.

citation count

  • 25

complete list of authors

  • O’Brien, Chris||Anisimov, Petr M||Rostovtsev, Yuri||Kocharovskaya, Olga

publication date

  • January 2011