Steep dispersion of opposite signs in driven degenerate two-level atomic transitions have been predicted and observed on the D2 line of 87Rb in an optically thin vapor cell. The intensity dependence of the anomalous dispersion has been studied. The maximum observed value of anomalous dispersion [dn/dnu ~= -6x10^{-11}Hz^{-1}] corresponds to anegative group velocity V_g ~= -c/23000.
We present preliminary results from an experimental study of slow light in anti-relaxation-coated Rb vapor cells, and describe the construction and testing of such cells. The slow ground state decoherence rate allowed by coated cell walls leads to a dual-structured electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectrum with a very narrow (<100 Hz) transparency peak on top of a broad pedestal. Such dual-structure EIT permits optical probe pulses to propagate with greatly reduced group velocity on two time scales. We discuss ongoing efforts to optimize the pulse delay in such coated cell systems.
We demonstrate the possibility of dynamic imaging of magnetic fields using electromagnetically induced transparency in an atomic gas. As an experimental demonstration we employ an atomic Rb gas confined in a glass cell to image the transverse magnetic field created by a long straight wire. In this arrangement, which clearly reveals the essential effect, the field of view is about 2 x 2 mm^2 and the field detection uncertainty is 0.14 mG per 10 um x 10 um image pixel.
We study quantum intensity correlations produced using four-wave mixing in a room-temperature rubidium vapor cell. An extensive study of the effect of the various parameters allows us to observe very large amounts of non classical correlations.
We demonstrate highly efficient generation of coherent 420nm light via up-conversion of near-infrared lasers in a hot rubidium vapor cell. By optimizing pump polarizations and frequencies we achieve a single-pass conversion efficiency of 260% per Watt, significantly higher than in previous experiments. A full exploration of the coherent light generation and fluorescence as a function of both pump frequencies reveals that coherent blue light is generated close to 85Rb two-photon resonances, as predicted by theory, but at high vapor pressure is suppressed in spectral regions that do not support phase matching or exhibit single-photon Kerr refraction. Favorable scaling of our current 1mW blue beam power with additional pump power is predicted.
The explanation presented in [Taichenachev et al, Phys. Rev. A {bf 61}, 011802 (2000)] according to which the electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) resonances observed in degenerate two level systems are due to coherence transfer from the excited to the ground state is experimentally tested in a Hanle type experiment observing the parametric resonance on the $% D1$ line of $^{87}$Rb. While EIA occurs in the $F=1to F^{prime}=2 $ transition in a cell containing only $Rb$ vapor, collisions with a buffer gas ($30 torr$ of $Ne$) cause the sign reversal of this resonance as a consequence of collisional decoherence of the excited state. A theoretical model in good qualitative agreement with the experimental results is presented.