We report a preliminary experimental study of EIT and stored light in the high optical depth regime. In particular, we characterize two ways to mitigate radiation trapping, a decoherence mechanism at high atomic density: nitrogen as buffer gas, and a
long, narrow cell geometry. Initial results show the promise of both approaches in minimizing radiation trapping, but also reveal problems such as optical pumping into trapped end-states. We also observe distortion in EIT lineshapes at high optical depth, a result of interference from four-wave mixing. Experimental results are in good qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions.
We present a preliminary experimental study of the dependence on optical depth of slow and stored light pulses in Rb vapor. In particular, we characterize the efficiency of slow and stored light as a function of Rb density; pulse duration, delay and
storage time; and control field intensity. Experimental results are in good qualitative agreement with theoretical calculations based on a simplified three-level model at moderate densities.
