Ultraslow light propagation in an inhomogeneously broadened rare-earth ion-doped crystal

Slowing probe and conjugate pulses in potassium vapor using four wave mixing

We present an experimental study on ultraslow propagation of matched optical pulses in nondegenerate four wave mixing (FWM) in hot potassium vapor. The main figures of merit, i.e. fractional delay and fractional broadening, are determined to be 1.1 and 1.2, respectively. The latter two are approximately constant for the broad range of the two photon detuning. Input probe pulses between 20 ns and 120 ns can be delayed within broad range of the gain. The results are compared with the preceding works for Rb and Na.

Millisecond Photon Lifetime in a Slow-Light Microcavity

Optical microcavities with ultralong photon storage times are of central importance for integrated nanophotonics. To date, record quality (Q) factors up to 10^{11} have been measured in millimetric-size single-crystal whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) resonators, and 10^{10} in silica or glass microresonators. We show that, by introducing slow-light effects in an active WGM microresonator, it is possible to enhance the photon lifetime by several orders of magnitude, thus circumventing both fabrication imperfections and residual absorption. The slow-light effect is obtained from coherent population oscillations in an erbium-doped fluoride glass microsphere, producing strong dispersion of the WGM (group index n_{g}∼10^{6}). As a result, a photon lifetime up to 2.5 ms at room temperature has been measured, corresponding to a Q factor of 3×10^{12} at 1530 nm. This system could yield a new type of optical memory microarray with ultralong storage times.

Slow/fast light using a very short Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped fiber

A slow/fast light device with a sealed size of 130 mm×30 mm×3 mm has been demonstrated. Ultraslow propagation and superluminal propagation with group velocity values from 8.4 to -14.7 m/s are observed in a 3.86 cm long Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped single-mode phosphate glass fiber. The dependence of pump power, modulation frequency, and wavelength on the slow/fast light effect in this fiber is investigated in detail. These results suggest that this compact slow/fast device is more suitable for all-fiber applications than those made by traditional methods.

Nanocavity linewidth narrowing and group delay enhancement by slow light propagation and nonlinear effects

Slow light induced by coherent population oscillations and cavity dispersive nonlinear response are combined achieving 2 orders of magnitude enhancement of the group delay and an equivalent decreasing of the spectral linewidth of a L3 two-dimensional photonic crystal nanocavity.

Slowing light down by low magnetic fields: pulse delay by transient spectral hole-burning in ruby

We report on the observation of slow light induced by transient spectral hole-burning in a solid, that is based on excited-state population storage. Experiments were conducted in the R1-line (2E←4A2 transition) of a 2.3 mm thick pink ruby (Al2O3:Cr(III) 130 ppm). Importantly, the pulse delay can be controlled by the application of a low external magnetic field B||c≤9 mT and delays of up to 11 ns with minimal pulse distortion are observed for ~55 ns Gaussian pulses. The delay corresponds to a group velocity value of ~c/1400. The experiment is very well modelled by linear spectral filter theory and the results indicate the possibility of using transient hole-burning based slow light experiments as a spectroscopic technique.

Slow light propagation in a ring erbium-doped fiber

Slow light propagation is demonstrated by implementing Coherent Population Oscillations in a silica fiber doped with erbium ions in a ring surrounding the single mode core. Though only the wings of the mode interact with erbium ions, group velocities around 1360 m/s are obtained without any spatial distortion of the propagating mode.

Telecommunication-wavelength solid-state memory at the single photon level

We demonstrate experimentally the storage and retrieval of weak coherent light fields at telecommunication wavelengths in a solid. Light pulses at the single photon level are stored for a time up to 600 ns in an erbium-doped Y2SiO5 crystal at 2.6 K and retrieved on demand. The memory is based on photon echoes with controlled reversible inhomogeneous broadening, which is realized here for the first time at the single photon level. This is implemented with an external field gradient using the linear Stark effect. This experiment demonstrates the feasibility of a solid-state quantum memory for single photons at telecommunication wavelengths, which would represent an important resource in quantum information science.

An efficient optical knob from slow light to fast light in a coupled nanomechanical resonator-quantum dot system

We theoretically present a highly efficient optical method to obtain slow and fast light in a coupled system consisting of a nanomechanical resonator and quantum dots in terms of mechanically induced coherent population oscillation (MICPO). Turning on or turning off the specific detuning of pump field from exciton resonance, this coupling system can provide us a direct optical way to obtain the slow or fast group velocity without absorption. Our coupling scheme proposed here works as a fast and slow-light knob and may have potential applications in various domains such as optical communication and biology sensor.

Subdiffraction propagation of images using saturated absorption of optical transition

We show how well-developed saturated absorption spectroscopy could be adopted for subdiffraction propagation of optical images. We employ pump beams with appropriate spatial profiles that produce controllable inhomogeneous absorption and dispersion of the medium. We discuss advantages of using super-Gaussian and Laguerre-Gaussian pump beams.

Transmission enhancement of ultraslow light in an atom shelved model of spectral hole burning solids

We present transmission enhancement of ultraslow light in an inhomogeneously broadened spectral hole-burning solid medium by using precedent dummy light. The function of the dummy light is to burn a half-depth narrow spectral hole in an optically shelved solid system and to maintain the system optically transparent to the probe light, where the probe must experiences ultraslow group velocity due to the narrow spectral hole. The observed transmission increase is as high as 7 times compared with self-induced ultraslow light [J. Hahn and B. S. Ham, Opt. Express 16, 16723 (2008)], where the transmission enhancement is equivalent to 10(5) amplification considering an optical depth of d = 10.

Slow light based on coherent hole-burning in a Doppler broadened three-level Lambda-type atomic system

We show theoretically that the propagation of light can be slowed down considerably using the method of coherent hole-burning in a Doppler broadened three-level lambda-type atomic medium without the Doppler-free configurations. The reduction of group velocity of light pulse is achieved by the application of a saturating beam and a strong coupling beam which produce a narrow spectral hole-burning at resonance. We can obtain a larger group index than that using the method of saturation absorption spectroscopy in Doppler-broadened two-level atomic systems.

Observation of delay enhancement in an ion-doped crystal

We report the investigation of the reduction of the group velocity propagation resulting from the steep change of the refractive index by the coherent population oscillation in an erbium ion-doped optical fiber. We study fully the influences of the ion density and the temperature on the fractional and time delay. We find that the fractional delay can be decreased at high or low temperature. Moreover, we conclude that the temperature can be used as a control parameter to reduce distortion.

Discrimination of resonant and nonresonant contributions to the nonlinear refraction spectroscopy of ion-doped solids

Nonlinear refraction spectroscopy measurements were performed in resonance with absorption lines in Nd3+ and Cr3+ doped crystals. The observed line shapes can be explained by the interference of resonant and nonresonant contributions to the nonlinear refractive index. These effects were fully discriminated using a pump and probe configuration, in which a dispersive line shape was observed on the top of a plateau that was attributed to the polarizability difference between excited and ground states (Deltaalpha). A theoretical model was used to obtain Deltaalpha from the experimental data, and the results are in agreement with several previous experiments. Slow and fast light propagation are also discussed.

Observation of Backward Pulse Propagation Through a Medium with a Negative Group Velocity

The nature of pulse propagation through a material with a negative value of the group velocity has been mysterious, as simple models seem to predict that pulses will propagate "backward" through such a material. Using an erbium-doped optical fiber and measuring the time evolution of the pulse intensity at many points within the fiber, we demonstrate that the peak of the pulse does propagate backward inside the fiber, even though the energy flow is always in the forward direction.