Radiation trapping in coherent media. Academic Article uri icon

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.

published proceedings

  • Phys Rev Lett

author list (cited authors)

  • Matsko, A. B., Novikova, I., Scully, M. O., & Welch, G. R.

citation count

  • 71

complete list of authors

  • Matsko, AB||Novikova, I||Scully, MO||Welch, GR

publication date

  • September 2001