We present a theoretical model for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in vapor, that incorporates atomic motion and velocity-changing collisions into the dynamics of the density-matrix distribution. Within a unified formalism we demonstrate various motional effects, known for EIT in vapor: Doppler-broadening of the absorption spectrum; Dicke-narrowing and time-of-flight broadening of the transmission window for a finite-sized probe; Diffusion of atomic coherence during storage of light and diffusion of the light-matter excitation during slow-light propagation; and Ramsey-narrowing of the spectrum for a probe and pump beams of finite-size.
We propose a sub-Doppler laser cooling mechanism that takes advantage of the unique spectral features and extreme dispersion generated by the phenomenon of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). EIT is a destructive quantum interference phen
omenon experienced by atoms with multiple internal quantum states when illuminated by laser fields with appropriate frequencies. By detuning the lasers slightly from the dark resonance, we observe that, within the transparency window, atoms can be subject to a strong viscous force, while being only slightly heated by the diffusion caused by spontaneous photon scattering. In contrast to other laser cooling schemes, such as polarization gradient cooling or EIT-sideband cooling, no external magnetic field or strong external confining potential is required. Using a semiclassical approximation, we derive analytically quantitative expressions for the steady-state temperature, which is confirmed by full quantum mechanical numerical simulations. We find that the lowest achievable temperatures approach the single-photon recoil energy. In addition to dissipative forces, the atoms are subject to a stationary conservative potential, leading to the possibility of spatial confinement. We find that under typical experimental parameters this effect is weak and stable trapping is not possible.
We describe the effect of thermal motion and buffer-gas collisions on a four-level closed N system interacting with strong pump(s) and a weak probe. This is the simplest system that experiences electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) due to tran
sfer of coherence via spontaneous emission from the excited to ground state. We investigate the influence of Doppler broadening, velocity-changing collisions (VCC), and phase-changing collisions (PCC) with a buffer gas on the EIA spectrum of optically active atoms. In addition to exact expressions, we present an approximate solution for the probe absorption spectrum, which provides physical insight into the behavior of the EIA peak due to VCC, PCC, and wave-vector difference between the pump and probe beams. VCC are shown to produce a wide pedestal at the base of the EIA peak, which is scarcely affected by the pump-probe angular deviation, whereas the sharp central EIA peak becomes weaker and broader due to the residual Doppler-Dicke effect. Using diffusion-like equations for the atomic coherences and populations, we construct a spatial-frequency filter for a spatially structured probe beam and show that Ramsey narrowing of the EIA peak is obtained for beams of finite width.
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 d
ifference 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 study, theoretically and experimentally, electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in two different solid-state systems. Unlike many implementations in homogeneously broadened media, these systems exhibit inhomogeneous broadening of their opt
ical and spin transitions typical of solid-state materials. We observe EIT lineshapes typical of atomic gases, including a crossover into the regime of Autler-Townes splitting, but with the substitution of the inhomogeneous widths for the homogeneous values. We obtain quantitative agreement between experiment and theory for the width of the transparency feature over a range of optical powers and inhomogeneous linewidths. We discuss regimes over which analytical and numerical treatments capture the behavior. As solid-state systems become increasingly important for scalable and integratable quantum optical and photonic devices, it is vital to understand the effects of the inhomogeneous broadening that is ubiquitous in these systems. The treatment presented here can be applied to a variety of systems, as exemplified by the common scaling of experimental results from two different systems.
Here we present a microscopic model that describes the Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) phenomenon in the multiple scattering regime. We consider an ensembles of cold three-level atoms, in a $Lambda$ configuration, scattering a probe an
d 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 interacting terms can critically affect the atomic population transfer in the Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP). This result points out that standard STIRAP-based quantum memories in dense and cold atomic ensembles would not reach efficiency high enough for quantum information processing applications.