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 in the $7S_{1/2}$ states of $^{85}$Rb and $^{87}$Rb, and obtain an improvement of more than an order of magnitude over previous values.
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.
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 analytically examine propagation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) at a thin metallic film between glass substrate and electromagnetically-induced-transparency (EIT) medium. High-precision and high-resolution in frequency domain provided by EIT paves the way towards plasmonic group velocities reduction even by $4$ orders of magnitude and corresponding lifetime enhancement of SPPs up to microseconds.
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 explore optical manipulation of sculpted light based on phase dependent electromagnetically induced transparency through a five level atomic system. A transverse magnetic field (TMF) and a suitable spatially inhomogeneous control field can be used to create a spatial probe transparency modulation at a desired location. Such transparency modulation is the principle behind the shaping of the light. Further the beam propagation equation shows that the control field induced selective phase information can be imprinted on the probe beam. Hence this controlled light shaping paves a new way for op…
We demonstrate the first experimental observation of coherent population oscillation, an optical analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency, in graphene based on phase sensitive pump-probe system. Degenerate four-wave-mixing between pump and probe modifies the dispersion and absorption of the population oscillation process in graphene, and leads to enhance and depression of modulation instability with asymmetry in frequency. The analytically predicted asymmetrical burning hole fully consists with the experiments.
The spectral response of a plasmonic nanostructure may heavily depend on the refractive index of its surroundings. The key idea of this paper is to control this response by coherent optical means, i.e. with an optically controlled electromagnetically-induced-transparency medium. In such environment, an external laser provides a knob to shift the position of plasmonic resonances without the need to change the geometry of the nanostructure. Additionally, the setup can be exploited to excite narrow-band surface plasmon polaritons.
We consider a simple configuration for realizing one-dimensional slow-light metamaterials with large bandwidth-delay products using stub-shaped Fabry-Perot resonators as building blocks. Each metaatom gives rise to large group indices due to a classical analog of the dressed-state picture of electromagnetically-induced transparency. By connecting up to eight metaatoms, we find bandwidth-delay products over unity and group indices approaching 100. Our approach is quite general and can be applied to any type of Fabry-Perot resonators and tuned to different operating wavelengths.
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…
Dynamical evolution and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is investigated here in a three-level $λ$-type atomic system including near-dipole-dipole interaction among atoms. The system is driven by the probe and coupling fields. Exact numerical solutions under steady-state condition are given for the density operator equation to get information about population in various levels and the linear susceptibility of probe-transition. Also, obtained are the closed form expressions for linear and third order non-linear susceptibilities for the probe transition under perturbation approxima…
A novel mechanism to realize dynamically tunable electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) analogue in the terahertz (THz) regime is proposed. By putting the electrically controllable monolayer graphene under the dark resonator, the amplitude of the EIT resonance in the metal-based metamaterial can be modulated substantially via altering the Fermi level of graphene. The amplitude modulation can be attributed to the change in the damping rate of the dark mode caused by the recombination effect of the conductive graphene. This work provides an alternative way to achieve tunable slow light e…
We show that the Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) is possible in a medium exhibiting Rydberg excitons and indicate the realistic parameters to perform the experiment. The calculations for a Cu$_2$O crystal are given which show that in this medium due to large group index one could expect slowing down a light pulse by a factor about $10^4$.
The metamaterial analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in terahertz (THz) regime holds fascinating prospects for filling the THz gap in various functional devices. In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid metamaterial to actively manipulate the resonance strength of EIT effect. By integrating a monolayer graphene into a THz metal metamaterial, an on-to-off modulation of the EIT transparency window is achieved under different Fermi levels of graphene. According to the classical two-particle model and the distributions of the electric field and surface charge density, the ph…
We propose a scheme to exhibit a Stern-Gerlach effect of n-component (n > 2) high-dimensional ultraslow optical solitons in a coherent atomic system with (n + 1)-pod level configuration via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). Based on Maxwell-Bloch equations, we derive coupled (3+1)-dimensional nonlinear Schrodinger equations governing the spatial-temporal evolution of n probe-field envelopes. We show that under EIT condition significant deflections of the n components of coupled ultraslow optical solitons can be achieved by using a Stern-Gerlach gradient magnetic field. The stabil…
Electromagnetically induced transparency allows for controllable change of absorption properties which can be exploited in a number of applications including optical quantum memory. In this paper, we present a study of the electromagnetically induced transparency in $^{167}$Er:$^6$LiYF$_4$ crystal at low magnetic fields and ultra-low temperatures. Experimental measurement scheme employs optical vector network analysis which provides high precision measurement of amplitude, phase and pulse delay. We found that sub-Kelvin temperatures are the necessary requirement for studying electromagneticall…
Mid-infrared spectral broadening is of great scientific and technological interest, which till date is mainly achieved using non-silica glass fibers, primarily made of tellurite, fluoride and chalcogenide glasses. We investigate broadband mid-infrared supercontinuum generation at very low power in semiconductor multiple quantum well (MQW) systems facilitated by electromagnetically induced transparency. 100 femto-seconds pulses of peak power close to a Watt have been launched in the electromagnetically induced transparency window of a 30 period 1.374 μm long MQW system. Broadband supercontinuum…
We propose a laser-controlled plasma shutter technique to generate sharp laser pulses using a process analogous to electromagnetically-induced transparency in atoms. The shutter is controlled by a laser with moderately strong intensity, which induces a transparency window below the cutoff frequency, and hence enables propagation of a low frequency laser pulse. Numerical simulations demonstrate it is possible to generate a sharp pulse wavefront (sub-ps) using two broad pulses in high density plasma. The technique can work in a regime that is not accessible by plasma mirrors when the pulse pedes…
When a light beam is strongly laterally confined, its field vector spins in a plane not perpendicular to the propagation direction, leading to the presence of transverse spin angular momentum, which plays a crucial role in the field of chiral quantum optics. The existing techniques to measure the transverse spin density require complex setups and sophisticated time-consuming procedures. Here, we propose a scheme to measure the transverse spin density of an optical field in real time using a multi-level atomic medium. The susceptibility of the medium is spatially modulated by the transverse spi…
In this study, we report on the fractional Talbot effect of nonparaxial self-accelerating beams in a multilevel electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) atomic configuration, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first study on this subject. The Talbot effect originates from superposed eigenmodes of the Helmholtz equation and forms in the EIT window in the presence of both linear and cubic susceptibilities. The Talbot effect can be realized by appropriately selecting the coefficients of the beam components. Our results indicate that the larger the radial ifference between beam comp…
Slow light with electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in the core of cylindrical waveguide (CW) for an optical fiber system containing three-level atoms is investigated. The CW modes are treated in the weakly guiding approximation which renders the analysis into manageable form. The transparency window and permittivity profile of the waveguide due to the strong pump field in the EIT scheme is calculated. For a specific permittivity profile of the waveguide due to EIT, the propagation constant of the weak signal field and spatial shape of fundamental guided mode are calculated by solvi…
We propose a metamaterial to realize true electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), where the incidence of an auxiliary electromagnetic wave called the control wave induces transparency for a probe wave. The analogy to the original EIT effect in an atomic medium is shown through analytical and numerical calculations derived from a circuit model for the metamaterial. We performed experiments to demonstrate the EIT effect of the metamaterial in the microwave region. The width and position of the transparent region can be controlled by the power and frequency of the control wave. We also ob…
Electromagnetically induced transparency lasing in distributed resonant feedback system
Quantum Science Center of Guangdong-HongKong-Macao Greater Bay Area（粤港澳大湾区量子科学中心）；Department of System Engineering, City University of Hong Kong（香港城市大学系统工程系）
We investigated numerically the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) behavior with the maximum Q factor is up to 28000 in a metal-dielectric metamaterial. It composed of two layers, a metallic strip as bright mode stacked above a dielectric rod as another bright mode. The coherent coupling between the broad electric dipole induced by the metal strip and the narrow toroidal dipole induced by the dielectric rod leads to the destructive interference, then introduces a transparency window. Interestingly, the EIT window could be effectively influenced by varying parameters of the two laye…
We propose a method to continuously frequency shift a target laser that is frequency stabilized by a reference laser, which is several hundreds of nanometers detuned. We demonstrate the technique using the 5S 1/2 to 5P 3/2 to 29D 5/2 Rydberg transition in 87Rb vapor and lock the 482 nm target laser to the 780 nm reference laser using the cascaded electromagnetically induced transparency signal. The stabilized frequency of the target laser can be shifted by about 1.6 GHz by phase modulating the reference laser using a waveguide-type electro-optical modulator. This simple method for stable frequ…
We demonstrate ladder-type electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) using an optical nanofiber suspended in a warm rubidium vapor. The signal and control fields are both guided along the nanofiber, which enables strong nonlinear interactions with the surrounding atoms at relatively low powers. Transit-time broadening is found to be a significant EIT decoherence mechanism in this tightly-confined waveguiding geometry. Nonetheless, we observe significant EIT and controlled polarization rotation using control-field powers of only a few microWatts in this relatively robust warm-atom nanofibe…
