Research Studies on Electromagnetically Induced Transparency
Abstract
We describe experimental and theoretical advances in the use of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) for new types of optical devices. Highlights of our work over the cited three-year period include: (1) The first demonstration that light may be made to propagate at ultra-slow group velocities. (2) The suggestion that slow light may lead to a class of nonlinear optical processes which are sufficiently efficient that they may occur at the single-photon level. (3) The experimental demonstration of high-efficiency nonlinear optics in gas phase. In particular, we obtain complete conversion from a 233-nm optical field to a 186-nm field. (4) We have suggested and experimentally demonstrated a new type of EIT-based Raman molecular process. We have demonstrated a source which produces mutually-coherent, equidistant sidebands covering about 50,000 wave-numbers of spectral bandwidth and ranging from 2.94 microns to 195 nm in wavelength. (5) We have shown that we may phase several of these sidebands to produce amplitude- or frequency-modulated light with a modulation frequency which is equal to the fundamental vibrational frequency of molecular deuterium (approximately 90 THz). This experiment is a first step toward the synthesis of subfemtosecond pulses with prescribed temporal shape.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA389126
Entities
People
- Stephen E. Harris
Organizations
- Stanford University