Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in Buffer-gas-cooled Rb Vapor

POSTER

Abstract

We demonstrate a novel experimental system for coherent quantum and nonlinear optics. Using ~a He buffer gas to cool Rb vapor to 4.2 K produces an atomic sample with an optical depth (OD) exceeding 70 that supports electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) with transmission as high 50{\%}, allowing us to systematically study EIT at large optical depths. We find that the two-photon EIT resonance that is a single peak at low optical depths splits into several peaks as the optical depth increases above 20. Detailed theoretical modeling indicates that the splitting is due to four wave mixing. Finally, we report the observation of slow pulse propagation with pulse delays of ~10 $\mu $s -- exceeding three times the input pulse width.

Authors

  • Tao Hong

    • Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Department of Physics, Harvard University

  • David Patterson

    • Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Department of Physics, Harvard University

  • Alexey Gorshkov

    • Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Department of Physics, Harvard University

  • Alexander Zibrov

    • Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Department of Physics, Harvard University

  • Mikhail D. Lukin

    • Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Department of Physics, Harvard University

  • John Doyle

    • Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Department of Physics, Harvard University

  • Mara Prentiss

    • Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Department of Physics, Harvard University