We present, experimentally and theoretically, a scheme for dressed-state electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a three-step cascade system where a four-level system is mapped into an effective three-level system. Theoretical analysis reveals that the scheme provides coherent state control via adiabatic following and provides a generalized protocol for light storage in uniform phase spin-waves that are insensitive to motional dephasing. The three-step driving enables a number of other features including spatial selectivity of the excitation region within the atomic medium, and kick-free and Doppler-free excitation that produces narrow resonances in thermal vapor. As a proof of concept we present an experimental demonstration of the generalized EIT scheme using the $6S_{1/2} \rightarrow 6P_{3/2} \rightarrow 7S_{1/2} \rightarrow 8P_{1/2}$ excitation path in thermal cesium vapor. This technique could be applied to cold and thermal ensembles to enable longer storage times for Rydberg polaritons.
We show that an alkali atom with a tripod electronic structure can yield rich electromagnetically induced transparency phenomena even at room temperature. In particular we introduce double-double electromagnetically induced transparency wherein signal and probe fields each have two transparency windows. Their group velocities can be matched in either the first or second pair of transparency windows. Moreover signal and probe fields can each experience coherent gain in the second transparency windows. We explain using a semi-classical-dressed-picture to connect the tripod electronic structure t…
A method to interpret probe spectra of driven degenerate atomic systems is discussed. The dressed-atom multiphoton spectroscopy (DAMS) is based on a dressing of the atomic system with the strong coupling field, followed by a perturbative treatment of the probe field interaction. As example, we apply the DAMS to provide a clear interpretation for anomalous electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA), which cannot be explained by spontaneous transfer of coherence. We show that anomalous EIA arises from quantum interference between competing two-photon transitions, and explain the different depe…
We report here the first observation of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in $^{20}$Ne. The power broadening of the EIT linewidth is measured as a function of neon pressure and RF excitation power. Doppler effects on the EIT broadening are found even at low pressures and low intensities, where the linewidth should be governed only by homogeneous effects.
We study the optic control for birefringence of a polarized light by an atomic ensemble with a tripod configuration, which is mediated by the electromagnetically induced transparency with a spatially inhomogeneous laser. The atom ensemble splits the linearly polarized light ray into two orthogonally-polarized components, whose polarizations depend on quantum superposition of the initial states of the atom ensemble. Accompanied with this splitting, the atom ensemble behaves as a birefringent lens, which allows one polarized light ray passing through straightly while focus another orthogonal to …
The correlation spectroscopy has been successfully employed in the measurement of the intrinsic linewidth of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in time and frequency domain. We study the role of the sidebands of the intense fields in the measured spectra, analyzing the information that can be recovered working with different analysis frequencies. In this case, the non-zero one-photon detuning appears as a necessary condition for spectrally resolving the sideband resonances in the correlation coefficient. Our experimental findings are supported by the perturbative model defined in t…
We demonstrate that the experimental results reported by M. Shuker, O. Firstenberg, R. Pugatch, A. Ben-Kish,1 A. Ron, and N. Davidson, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 76}, 023813 (2007) as Dicke narrowing of electromagnetically induced transparency, does not match with theory.
Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) resonances using the $5\rm{S}_{1/2}\rightarrow5\rm{P}_{3/2}\rightarrow5\rm{D}_{5/2}$ ladder-system in optically thick Rb atomic vapour are studied. We observe a strong line narrowing effect and gain at the $5\rm{S}_{1/2}\rightarrow5\rm{P}_{3/2}$ transition wavelength due to an energy-pooling assisted frequency conversion with characteristics similar to four-wave mixing. As a result it is possible to observe tunable and switchable transparency resonances with amplitude close to $100\%$ and a linewidth of 15 MHz. In addition, the large line narrowin…
We observe and investigate, both experimentally and theoretically, electromagnetically-induced transparency experienced by evanescent fields arising due to total internal reflection from an interface of glass and hot rubidium vapor. This phenomenon manifests itself as a non-Lorentzian peak in the reflectivity spectrum, which features a sharp cusp with a sub-natural width of about 1 MHz. The width of the peak is independent of the thickness of the interaction region, which indicates that the main source of decoherence is likely due to collisions with the cell walls rather than diffusion of atom…
We theoretically investigate a double-Λ electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) system. The property of the double-Λ medium with a closed-loop configuration depends on the relative phase of the applied laser fields. This phase-dependent mechanism differentiates the double-Λ medium from the conventional Kerr-based nonlinear medium, e.g., EIT-based nonlinear medium discussed by Harris and Hau [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4611 (1999)], which depends only on the intensities of the applied laser fields. Steady-state analytical solutions for the phase-dependent system are obtained by solving the Max…
Here we present a microscopic model that describes the Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) phenomenon in the multiple scattering regime. We consider an ensemble of cold three-level atoms, in a $Λ$ configuration, scattering a probe and a control field to the vacuum modes of the electromagnetic field. By first considering a scalar description of the scattering, we show that the light-mediated long-range interactions that emerge between the dipoles narrow the EIT transparency window for increasing densities and sample sizes. For a vectorial description, we demonstrate that near-field i…
This tutorial introduces the theoretical and experimental basics of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) in thermal alkali vapors. We first introduce a brief phenomenological description of EIT in simple three-level systems of stationary atoms and derive analytical expressions for optical transmission and dispersion under EIT conditions. Then we focus on how the thermal motion of atoms affects various parameters of the EIT system. Specifically, we analyze the Doppler broadening of optical transitions, ballistic versus diffusive atomic motion in a limited-volume interaction region, an…
Cavity linewidth narrowing via double-dark resonances has been experimentally observed using the 87Rb Zeeman splitting sublevels. With the steep dispersion led by the interacting dark resonances in the tripodtype electromagnetically induced transparency system, we narrow the cavity linewidth to 250 KHz at room temperature. Furthermore, the position of this ultranarrow cavity linewidth could be tuned in a 60 MHz coupling field detuning range.
We present a proof-of-principle experiment in which the population of an atomic level is spatially localized using the technique of electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT). The key idea is to utilize the sensitive dependence of the dark state of EIT on the intensity of the coupling laser beam. By using a sinusoidal intensity variation (standing-wave), we demonstrate that the population of a specific hyperfine level can be localized much tighter than the spatial period.
We experimentally study the photonic properties of a cold-atom sample trapped in a one-dimensional optical lattice under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. We show that such a medium has two photonic band gaps. One of them is in the transparency window and gives rise to a Bragg mirror, which is spectrally very narrow and dynamically tunable. We discuss the advantages and the limitations of this system. As an illustration of a possible application we demonstrate a two-port all-optical switch.
We obtain subnatural linewidth (i.e. $<Γ$) for probe absorption in room-temperature Rb vapor using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a $Λ$ system. For stationary atoms, the EIT dip for a resonant control laser is as wide as the control Rabi frequency $Ω_c$. But in thermal vapor, the moving atoms fill the transparency band so that the final EIT dip remains subnatural even when $Ω_c > Γ$. We observe linewidths as small as $Γ/7$ in the $D_2$ line of Rb.
Laser induced line narrowing effect, discovered more than thirty years ago, can also be applied to recent studies in high resolution spectroscopy based on electromagnetically induced transparency. In this paper we first present a general form of the transmission width of electromagnetically induced transparency in a homogeneously broadened medium. We then analyze a Doppler broadened medium by using a Lorentzian function as the atomic velocity distribution. The dependence of the transmission linewidth on the driving field intensity is discussed and compared to the laser induced line narrowing e…
We show two channel electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectra at various optical power. The two channels are coupling field and probe field absorption. It is shown that EIT width and intensity increases linearly with pump power. A density matrix calculation is used to determine nature of EIT spectra induced by optical field. It has been observed that EIT occurs in cases when coupling laser is at fixed frequency while probe laser frequency is scanned, when coupling laser is frequency scanned and probe is at fixed frequency.
We observe electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in Rb vapor at various optical intensities, starting from below saturation to several times the saturation intensity. The observed Lorentzian width of the EIT signal is very small. Solving the time dependant density matrix equation of motion with a phenomenological decay constant, we find an expression suitable in explaining the EIT signal. In this experimental observation and theoretical analysis intensity of EIT signal and its Lorentzian width increases with Rabi frequency of optical field.
We discuss the differences between two well-studied and related phenomena---coherent population trapping (CPT) and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). Many differences between the two---such as the effect of power in the beams, detuning of the beams from resonance, and the use of vapor cells filled with buffer gas---are demonstrated experimentally. The experiments are done using magnetic sublevels of the $ 1 \rightarrow 1 $ transition in the D$_2$ line of $^{87}$Rb.
We report the realization of an optical filter based on an optical vortex mask designed to exclusively detect a weak coherent laser field in the presence of much stronger spatially-overlapping field. We demonstrate the performance of such an optical vortex filter to eliminate the strong control field and detect only a weak optical field's transmission under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. The attractive feature of such filter is its insensitivity to optical field frequencies and polarizations, which makes it applicable for a wide range of coherent processes.
A tunable high resolution frequency reference is constructed using the narrowed cavity-linewidth by the optical pumping-assisted V-type electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). At room temperature, the optical pumping effect will increase the transparency for the V-type EIT and therefore the cavity-linewidth can be narrowed apparently. For the seven EITs observed in our previous study, cavity-linewidth narrowing is observed in all of them. More importantly, we find that the cavity-linewidth can keep at 1.2MHz in a wide frequency range of 100MHz by utilizing the central EIT. This propert…
We have demonstrated the laser frequency offset locking via the Rb tripod-type double dark resonances electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) system. The influence of coupling fields power and detuning on the tripod-type EIT profile is detailed studied. In a wide coupling fields detuning range, the narrower EIT dip has an ultranarrow linewidth of 590 KHz, which is about one order narrower than the natural linewidth of Rb. Without the additional frequency stabilization of the coupling lasers, we achieve the relative frequency fluctuation of 60 KHz in a long time of ~2000s, which is narro…
We study electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) of a weakly interacting cold Rydberg gas. We show that the onset of interactions is manifest as a depopulation of the Rydberg state and numerically model this effect by adding a density-dependent non-linear term to the optical Bloch equations. In the limit of a weak probe where the depopulation effect is negligible, we observe no evidence of interaction induced decoherence and obtain a narrow Rydberg dark resonance with a linewidth of <600 kHz, limited by the Rabi frequency of the coupling beam
We analyze theoretically the phenomenon of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) under conditions where the probe laser is not in the usual weak limit. We consider the effects in both three-level and four-level systems, which are either closed or open (due to losses to an external metastable level). We find that the EIT dip almost disappears in a closed three-level system but survives in an open system. In four-level systems, there is a narrow enhanced-absorption peak (EITA) at line center, which has applications as an optical clock. The peak converts to an EIT dip in a closed system,…
In a Lambda-type system employing a two-photon pump field, a four-wave mixing field can be generated simultaneously and hence a closed-loop system forms. We study theoretically on the effect of the relative phase between the two incident fields on the generated four-wave mixing field and the electromagnetically induced transparency. It is found that the phase of the generated four-wave mixing field is a sum of the incident relative phase and a fixed phase which is irrelative to the incident relative phase. Hence the total phase of the closed-loop system is independent of the incident relative …
We use the phenomenon of electromagnetically-induced transparency in a three-level atomic system for hyperfine spectroscopy of upper states that are not directly coupled to the ground state. The three levels form a ladder system: the probe laser couples the ground state to the lower excited state, while the control laser couples the two upper states. As the frequency of the control laser is scanned, the probe absorption shows transparency peaks whenever the control laser is resonant with a hyperfine level of the upper state. As an illustration of the technique, we measure hyperfine structure i…
We report electromagnetically induced transparency for the D1 and D2 lines in $^{6}$Li in both a vapour cell and an atomic beam. Electromagnetically induced transparency is created using co-propagating mutually coherent laser beams with a frequency difference equal to the hyperfine ground state splitting of 228.2 MHz. The effects of various optical polarization configurations and applied magnetic fields are investigated. In addition, we apply an optical Ramsey spectroscopy technique which further reduces the observed resonance width.
We have analyzed a five-level $\wedge$-configuration Four-Wave Mixing (FWM) scheme for obtaining a high-efficiency FWM based on the two electromagnetically induced transparency. We find that the maximum FWM efficiency is nearly 30%, which is orders of magnitude larger than previous schemes based on the two electromagnetically induced transparency. Our scheme may provide a new possibility for technological applications such as nonlinear spectroscopy at very low light intensity, quantum single-photon nonlinear optics and quantum information science.
We demonstrate a technique to lock the frequency of a laser to a transition between two excited states in Rb vapor in the presence of a weak magnetic field. We use a ladder configuration from specific hyperfine sublevels of the 5S 1/2, 5P 3/2, and 5D 5/2 levels. This atomic configuration can show Electromagnetically Induced Transparency and Absorption processes. The error signal comes from the difference in the transparency or absorption felt by the two orthogonal polarizations of the probe beam. A simplified model is in good quantitative agreement with the observed signals for the experimenta…
We show that it is possible to change from a {\it subnatural} electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) feature to a {\it subnatural} electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) feature in a (degenerate) three-level $Λ$ system. The change is effected by turning on a second control beam counter-propagating with respect to the first beam. We observe this change in the $D_2$ line of Rb in a room-temperature vapor cell. The observations are supported by density-matrix analysis of the complete sublevel structure including the effect of Doppler averaging, but can be understood qualitatively as…
We study the lensing effect experienced by a weak probe field under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) involving a Rydberg state. A Gaussian coupling beam tightly focused on a laser-cooled atomic cloud produces an inhomogeneity in the coupling Rabi frequency along the transverse direction and makes the EIT area acting like a gradient-index medium. We image the probe beam at the position where it exits the atomic cloud, and observe that a red-detuned probe light is strongly focused with a greatly enhanced intensity whereas a blue-detuned one is de-focused with a reduce…
We propose a method based on the Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) phenomenon for the detection of molecules which exist as a small minority in the presence of a majority of absorbers. The EIT effect we employ effectively eliminates the absorption of the majority species in the spectral region where it overlaps with the absorption of the minority species. The method can also be used to enhance local-modes transitions which overlap spectrally with a background of other local-modes transitions of the same molecule. The general theory is applied to the case of sparse and congested ba…
Dynamic control of atomic dressing to the highly-excited Rydberg state in multi-level systems has special appeals owing to the development of flexible and precise measurement. In this study we develop an experimentally-accessible proposal to robustly control the dressing probability via a three-step cascaded excitation with double electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) technique. The system can function as an optical switch where the third addressing laser serving as the control knob can switchably engineer the dressing probability with time. Differing from a conventional two-photon EI…
We discuss a Λ-like model of atomic levels involving two autoionizing (AI) states of the same energy. The system is irradiated by two external electromagnetic fields (strong -- driving and weak -- probing ones). For such a system containing degenerate AI levels we derive the analytical formula describing the medium susceptibility. We show that the presence of the second AI level lead to the additional electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) window appearance. We show that the characteristic of this window can be manipulated by changes of the parameters describing the interactions of AI …
Recent years have seen vast progress in the generation and detection of structured light, with potential applications in high capacity optical data storage and continuous variable quantum technologies. Here we measure the transmission of structured light through cold rubidium atoms and observe regions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We use q-plates to generate a probe beam with azimuthally varying phase and polarisation structure, and its right and left circular polarisation components provide the probe and control of an EIT transition. We observe an azimuthal modulation of …
We perform spectroscopic measurements of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a strongly interacting Rydberg gas, and observe a significant spectral shift of the transparency from the single-atom EIT resonance as well as a spectral dephasing of the same order. We characterize the shift and dephasing as a function of atomic density, probe Rabi frequency, and principal quantum number of Rydberg states, and demonstrate that the observed spectral shift and dephasing are reduced if the size of a Gaussian atomic cloud is increased. We simulate our experiment with a semi-analytical model…
We demonstrate electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a four-level cascade system where the upper level is a Rydberg state. The observed spectral features are sub-Doppler and can be enhanced due to the compensation of Doppler shifts with AC Stark shifts. A theoretical description of the system is developed which agrees well with the experimental results and an expression for the optimum parameters is derived.
Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is predicted for x rays in laser-dressed neon gas. The x-ray photoabsorption cross section and polarizability near the Ne K edge are calculated using an ab initio theory suitable for optical strong-field problems. The laser wavelength is tuned close to the transition between 1s^-1 3s and 1s^-1 3p (approximately 800nm). The minimum laser intensity required to observe EIT is of the order of 10^12 W/cm^2. The ab initio results are discussed in terms of an exactly solvable three-level model. This work opens new opportunities for research with ultrafas…
We study the absorption and dispersion properties of a weak tunable probe field in a four-level Y-type atomic system driven by two strong laser (coupling) fields within the framework of density matrix formalism. It is found that the probe absorption profile displays double-electromagnetically induced transparency (double-EIT) and it is shown how to control it by changing the Rabi frequencies as well as the atom field detuning of the coupling fields.
We study intensity distribution of transmission resonances under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) with lin||lin configuration in 87Rb vapor. We demonstrate that for various orientations of the external magnetic field all seven resolved EIT resonances exhibit maxima or minima at certain directions of the linear polarization of the laser field. This effect can be used for development of a high-precision vector EIT magnetometer.
We demonstrate electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a four-level cascade-like system, where the two upper levels are Rydberg states coupled by a microwave field. A two-photon transition consisting of an off-resonant microwave field and an off-resonant optical field forms an effective coupling field to induce transparency of the probe light. We characterize the Rabi frequency of the effective coupling field, as well as the EIT microwave spectra. The results show that microwave assisted EIT allows us to efficiently access Rydberg states with relatively high orbital angular momentum …
We construct the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) by dynamically coupling a superradiant state with a subradiant state. The superradiant and subradiant states with enhanced and inhibited decay rates act as the excited and metastable states in EIT, respectively. Their energy difference determined by the distance between the atoms can be measured by the EIT spectra, which renders this method useful in subwavelength metrology. The scheme can also be applied to many atoms in nuclear quantum optics, where the transparency point due to counter-rotating wave terms can be observed.
We investigate the dynamics of a pair of short laser pulse trains propagating in a medium consisting of three-level $Λ$-type atoms by numerically solving the Maxwell-Schrödinger equations for atoms and fields. By performing propagation calculations with different parameters, under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency, we compare the propagation dynamics by a single pair of probe and coupling laser pulses and by probe and coupling laser pulse trains. We discuss the influence of the coupling pulse area, number of pulses, and detunings on the probe laser propagation and realizat…
We demonstrate electromagnetically induced transparency with the control laser in a Laguerre-Gaussian mode. The transmission spectrum is studied in an ultracold gas for the D2 line in both $^{85}$Rb and $^{87}$Rb, where the decoherence due to diffusion of the atomic medium is negligible. We compare these results to a similar configuration, but with the control laser in the fundamental laser mode. We model the transmission of a probe laser under both configurations, and we find good agreement with the experiment. We conclude that the use of Laguerre-Gaussian modes in electromagnetically induced…
Electrometry near a dielectric surface is performed using Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The large polarizability of high n-state Rydberg atoms gives this method extreme sensitivity. We show that adsorbates on the dielectric surface produce a significant electric field that responds to an applied field with a time constant of order one second. For transient applied fields (with a time scale of < 1 s) we observe good agreement with calculations based on numerical solutions of Laplace's equation using an effective dielectric constant to simulate the bulk dielectric.
We show that, under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), a significant portion of the incident probe pulse can be transferred into Rayleigh and Raman scattering channels. The light scattered into the Rayleigh channel emerges from the sample with an EIT time delay. We show that a proper description of the probe light propagation in the sample should include, in the diffusion dynamics, a spin polariton generated by the two-photon EIT process. The results have important implications for studies of weak light localization, and for manipulation of single and few photon stat…
Narrow linewidth signals of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) in the metastable 83Kr have been observed for the first time. Various hyperfine transitions in 4p55s[3/2]2 to 4p55p[5/2]3 manifolds of 83Kr have been identified through the experimentally observed EIT signals. Some unresolved or poorly resolved hyperfine transitions in saturated absorption spectroscopy (SAS) are clearly resolved in the present work. Using the spectral separation of these EIT identified hyperfine transitions, the magnetic hyperfine constant (A) and the electric quadrupole hyperfine constant (B) are deter…
We report on the first observation of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a ladder system in the presence of a buffer gas. In particular we study the 5S1/2 - 5P3/2 - 5D5/2 transition in thermal rubidium vapor with a neon buffer gas at a pressure of 6 Torr. In contrast to the line narrowing effect of buffer gas on Λ-systems we show that the presence of the buffer gas leads to an additional broadening of (32 +/- 5) MHz, which suggests a cross section for Rb(5D5/2)-Ne of σ = (7 +/- 1) x 10-19 m2. However, in the limit where the coupling Rabi frequency is larger than k the collisiona…
We report a measurement of the transition amplitude ratio $χ$ of an electric quadrupole ($E2$) to a magnetic dipole ($M1$) of the $6P_{1/2}\rightarrow6P_{3/2}$ transition in atomic thallium. We utilized the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) mechanism and the sideband-bridging technique to resolve the isotopic transitions and their hyperfine manifold. Our measurement gave $χ_{205}~=~0.2550(20)(7)$ for $^{205}$Tl, and $χ_{203}=0.2532(73)(7)$ for $^{203}$Tl, which was measured for the first time. Our result provides a reference point for the theoretical calculation of atomic structur…
We theoretically study electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in reflection spectra of V-type system at the gas-solid interface. In addition to a narrow dip arising from the EIT effect, we find the other particular saturation effect induced by pump field, which does not exist in $Λ$ or $Ξ$ -type system reflection spectra. The saturation effect only induces an intensity decrement in the reflection spectra, and there is no influence on the narrow dip arising from the EIT effect. We detailedly calculate and analyze the dependence of V-type system reflection spectra on probe field intensit…
We report on rubidium vapor-cell Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a 0.7~T magnetic field where all involved levels are in the hyperfine Paschen-Back regime, and the Rydberg state exhibits a strong diamagnetic interaction with the magnetic field. Signals from both $^{85}\mathrm{Rb}$ and $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ are present in the EIT spectra. This feature of isotope-mixed Rb cells allows us to measure the field strength to within a $\pm 0.12$\% relative uncertainty. The measured spectra are in excellent agreement with the results of a Monte Carlo calculation and indicate unex…
