Single photon self-interference via inelastic two-wave mixing in a coherently prepared cold medium

We investigate a coherently prepared cold medium for efficient single-photon inelastic two-wave mixing (ITWM), maximum Fock state entanglement and single photon self-interference. We show the possibility of generating maximally entangled single-photon state, and near 100% conversion efficiency for generating a frequency shifted TWM photon by proper choice of medium length and concentration. In addition, we demonstrate a new type of transparency effect produced by an efficient single photon self-interference, a transparency effect that is very different from the conventional electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) process.     

Inhibiting the onset of the three-photon destructive interference in ultraslow propagation-enhanced four-wave mixing with dual induced transparency

We propose a dual electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) based multiwave mixing scheme that retains the significantly enhanced conversion efficiency enabled by ultraslow propagation of pump waves, yet is also capable of inhibiting and delaying the onset of the detrimental three-photon destructive interference that limits the further growth of the four-wave mixing (FWM) field. We show that the new scheme exhibits a wave-matching condition that is fundamentally different from the conventional FWM without EIT, and the efficient generation of the mixing wave is not critically dependent upon the FWM detuning to achieve constructive interference as required in the conventional FWM. These are significant steps forward in enabling applications of ultraslow wave nonlinear optics.     

Enhancement and Suppression of Four-Wave Mixing in a Four-Level Atomic System

We report observations of the enhancement and suppression of four-wave mixing （FWM） in an electromagnetically induced transparency window in a Y-type ^85 Rb atomic system. The results show the evolution of the dressed effects （from pure enhancement to partial enhancement/suppression, and finally into pure suppression） in the degenerate-FWM processes. Moreover, we use the perturbation chain method to describe the FWM process. Finally, we observe the polarization dependence of the enhancement and suppression of the FWM signal.     

Reduced threshold of a stimulated four-wave mixing process in an optical fiber

The possibility for all-optical control of the effective parametric Stokes gain was demonstrated in an optical fiber. For the first time the threshold reduction induced by the interference of two different four-wave mixing processes which share a common Stokes wave was used as a control mechanism.     

Opening optical four-wave mixing channels with giant enhancement using ultraslow pump waves

We show that by strongly modifying the dispersion properties of a four-level system, non-existing wave mixing channels can be opened and significantly enhanced. Specifically, we show that coherent optical four-wave mixing with a pump wave mediated by electromagnetically induced transparency (thereby propagating with an extremely slow group velocity) will lead to many orders of magnitude enhancement in the amplitude of the generated wave. Contrary to common belief, a large transparency window, which causes a large propagation velocity, actually diminishes efficient mixing wave production.     

Enhanced frequency conversion of nonadiabatic pulses in a double Λ system driven by two pumps with and without carrier beams

We show that nonadiabatic, resonant amplitude- and phase-modulated pulses can be frequency converted with greater efficiency than adiabatic resonant pulses in a double Λ system, interacting with two strong cw beams on one side of the system, and a weak pulsed probe on the other. Indeed, in this double EIT (electromagnetically induced transparency) configuration, conversion efficiencies close to unity, similar to those achieved using highly detuned pulses, can be obtained using highly nonadiabatic resonant pulses. The distance at which the maximum conversion occurs is shorter than in a coherently-prepared Λ system. This counteracts the increased absorption that occurs in the double EIT configuration, so that both produce similar conversion efficiencies. The absorption experienced by matched nonadiabatic pulses in the double EIT system, at all propagation distances, can be overcome by superimposing the nonadiabatic pulses as amplitude modulations on carrier fields. Thus we demonstrate the formation of adiabatons in the double EIT system, and of diabatons in both the coherently-prepared Λ system and the double EIT system. Both the diabatons and adiabatons satisfy pulse-matching conditions. In addition, the asymptotic amplitude of the complementary amplitude modulations is proportional to the ratio of the pump to probe carrier Rabi frequencies, and is the same in each of the configurations.     

Opacity of electromagnetically induced transparency for quantum fluctuations

We analyze the propagation of a pair of quantized fields inside a medium of three-level atoms in a Lambda configuration. We calculate the stationary quadrature noise spectrum of the field, in the case where the probe field is in a squeezed state and the atoms show electromagnetically induced transparency. We find an oscillatory transfer of the initial quantum properties between the probe and pump fields which is most strongly pronounced when both fields have comparable intensities. This implies that the quantum state measured after propagation can be completely different from the initial state, even though the mean values of the field are unaltered.     

Quantum interference effect on absorption-dispersion spectra in Λ-type three-level EIT medium interacting with a squeezed bath

A Λ-type three-level atomic system in the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) configuration interacting with a broadband squeezed vacuum (SV) bath is studied with quantum interference (QI) between decay channels taken into account. We formulate two sufficient critical conditions for the medium to be dispersionless or absorptionless. Computational results for the dispersion and absorption spectra show that presence of both QI and SV offers more avenues to manipulate the group velocity of probe pulse for its variation from sub-luminal to super-luminal regimes. The relative phase between the two external fields is found to act as a control knob of the atomic medium.     

Efficient multiwave mixing in the ultraslow propagation regime and the role of multiphoton quantum destructive interference

We analyze a lifetime-broadened four-state four-wave-mixing (FWM) scheme in the ultraslow propagation regime and show that the generated FWM field can acquire the same group velocity and pulse shape as those of an ultraslow pump field. We show that a new type of induced transparency resulted from multiphoton destructive interference that significantly reduced the pump field loss. Such induced transparency based on multphoton destructive interference may have important applications in other nonlinear optical processes.     

Ultraslow optical solitons in a four-level tripod atomic system

We investigate possible formation and propagation of localized, shape-preserving nonlinear optical pulse in a resonant, lifetime-broadened four-level tripod atomic system via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We prove both analytically and numerically that although in anomalous dispersion regimes near resonance a superluminal optical soliton may appear, such soliton suffers serious absorption. However, by choosing appropriate parameters to make the system work in normal dispersion regimes and within an EIT transparency window, ultraslow optical solitons with very low light intensity can form and propagate stably in the system.     

Theoretical investigation of an acoustic wave in molecular magnets via electromagnetically induced transparency

Using the Schrödinger-Maxwell equations, we theoretically investigate the propagation properties of a transverse acoustic wave in a crystal of molecular magnets in the presence of two strong ac resonant magnetic fields and a weak acoustic wave. The acoustic wave can freely propagate in the magnetic molecule medium (under appropriate conditions) due to quantum interference. Furthermore, using the slowly varying envelope approximation, we discuss the propagation equation of the acoustic wave, which includes the high order nonlinear term. The results show that a crystal of molecular magnets can support the propagation of acoustic wave solitons via electromagnetically induced transparency. We also obtain the analytical expressions for the phase shift and absorption coefficient of the acoustic wave within certain parameters.     

Light storage via slow-light four-wave mixing

We experimentally demonstrate a light storage via slow-light four-wave mixing in a solid-state medium with a four-level double lambda scheme. Using slow light based on electromagnetically induced transparency, we obtain a slowed four-wave mixing signal pulse together with the slowed probe pulse. During the propagation of light pulses, the storage and retrieval of both the slowed four-wave mixing pulse and the slowed probe pulse are studied by manipulating the intensities of the control fields.     

Tunneling-induced ultraslow solitons in triangular quantum dot molecules

We theoretically investigate the propagation of a weak probe laser pulse in a triangular quantum dot molecules scheme based on the tunneling induced transparency. We find that the ultraslow optical solitons can be realized due to the destructive quantum interference induced by the interdot tunneling coupling which can be adjusted by the gate voltage appropriately. This work may provide practical applications such as electro-optic modulated devices and other information processes in semiconductor quantum dots structure.     

Optical switching by controlling the double-dark resonances in a N-tripod five-level atom

We have investigated the optical switching in a five-level atom in a novel configuration of electromagnetically induced transparency. This N-tripod type level scheme combines the attractive features of cross-phase modulation appearing in N-type atoms with the ability to slow light pulses associated with tripod atoms. The addition of a new driving field to the usual tripod configuration allows to control the double-dark resonances which appear in the four-level tripod system and thus enables to manipulate the probe absorption and dispersion properties. We have studied the temporal dynamics of two pulses, a probe pulse and a switch propagating pulse through the sample. In the presence of the switching field, a deep in the absorption at resonance due to one-photon electromagnetically induced transparency appears and the atomic system is transparent to the probe field, which propagates at a very small group velocity. By tuning the fields, one of the usual double-dark resonances appearing in tripod system can be controlled (Stark-shifted) and the medium, which is transparent in the absence of the control field, will become highly absorptive. The linear and cross-phase modulation susceptibilities have been calculated and we predict the possibility to realize two-photon switching and giant cross-phase modulation. Finally we address the question about the generation of an entangled coherent state and we show that the giant cross-phase modulation provided by this N-tripod atomic system can be used for realizing polarization quantum phase gates.     

Dressed multi-wave mixing in a V-type four-level atomic system

The dressed four- and six-wave mixings in a V-type four-level system are considered. Under two different dressed conditions, two- and three-photon resonant Autler--Townes splittings, accompanied by enhancement and suppression of wave mixing signal, are obtained analytically. Meanwhile, an electromagnetic induced transparency of multi-wave mixing is presented, which shows multiple peaks and asymmetric effects caused by one-photon, two-photon and three-photon resonances, separately. The slow light propagation multiple region of multi-wave mixing signal is also obtained.     

Nonlinear cascade-configuration multi-wave mixing scheme based on electromagnetically induced transparency

A nonlinear optical cascade-configuration multi-wave mixing (CCMWM) scheme is presented and analysed for the generation of coherent light in a six-level atomic system in the context of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). A detailed semi-classical study of the propagation of the generated mixing and probe fields is demonstrated. We show by numerical simulations that EIT is capable of suppressing linear and nonlinear photon absorption. The analytical dependence of the generated mixing field on the probe field and the respective detuning is also predicted. Such a nonlinear optical process can be used for generating coherent short-wavelength radiation.     

Observation of quantum destructive interference in inelastic two-wave mixing

Using room-temperature 87Rb atoms we demonstrate a quantum destructive interference between two one-photon excitation pathways in an inelastic two-wave mixing scheme that corresponds to the "strong-storage and weak-retrieval" of an optical field. This destructive interference is fundamentally different from the usual electromagnetically induced transparency because it is critically dependent on the generation and propagation of a wave-mixing field. We also show that contrary to the common belief, the maximum atomic coherence in general does not lead to the maximum mixing-wave conversion efficiency.     

Nonlinear three-wave interaction in photonic crystals

We present a multi-scale analysis of nonlinear three-wave-interaction processes in photonic crystals. Based on photonic Bloch functions as carrier waves, we derive the effective nonlinear coupled wave equations that govern pulse propagation in these systems and obtain the corresponding effective photonic crystal parameters directly from photonic band-structure computations. As an illustration, we show how hitherto inaccessible radiation-conversion processes such as wave-front reversal of optical pulses can be realized. Furthermore, we describe a novel regime of nonlinear three-wave interaction in photonic crystals associated with the nearly degenerate case and show how these results may be utilized to study experimentally certain problems from plasma physics and hydrodynamics in the context of nonlinear photonic crystals.     

Coexisting Raman- and Rayleigh-Enhanced Four-Wave Mixing in Femtosecond Polarization Beats

Based on the polarization interference of Raman- and Rayleigh-enhanced four-wave mixing processes, heterodyne detection of the Raman, Rayleigh and coexisting Raman and Rayleigh femtosecond difference-frequency polarization beats is investigated in the cw and the three Markovian stochastic models, respectively. These two processes exhibit asymmetric and symmetric spectra, respectively, and the thermal effect in them can be suppressed by field-correlation method. Such studies of coexisting Raman- and Rayleigh-enhanced four-wave mixing processes can have important applications in coherence quantum control, and quantum information processing.     

Propagation dynamic of a Gaussian in the inverted nonlinear photonic crystals

In this work, we study the evolution of a Gaussian beam inside a one-dimensional inverted nonlinear photonic crystals (INPC) with a Kerr nonlinearity. The INPC is a kind of virtual crystals which is generated by the optical induction via the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The propagation dynamics of the Gaussian with different total power are identified. Four types of propagation behavior are found. They are collapse beam, breather beam, soliton and symmetry-breaking beam, respectively. The border between these four behavior types are given. For symmetry-breaking beam, an asymmetric profile of the beam is evolving from the symmetry Gaussian, which can be termed as a kind of dynamical symmetry breaking (DSB). The influences on the appearance of the symmetry breaking point are studied by varying input parameters of the Gaussian. The results of this work are both suitable in nonlinear optics and Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC).