Photonic-band-gap properties for two-component slow light

Journal Article · Wed Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.83.063811· OSTI ID:21550192

Ruseckas, J; Kudriasov, V; Juzeliunas, G; Unanyan, R G; Otterbach, J; Fleischhauer, M ^[1]

---

1. Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy, Vilnius University, A. Gostauto 12, Vilnius 01108 (Lithuania)

We consider two-component ''spinor'' slow light in an ensemble of atoms coherently driven by two pairs of counterpropagating control laser fields in a double tripod-type linkage scheme. We derive an equation of motion for the spinor slow light (SSL) representing an effective Dirac equation for a massive particle with the mass determined by the two-photon detuning. By changing the detuning the atomic medium acts as a photonic crystal with a controllable band gap. If the frequency of the incident probe light lies within the band gap, the light experiences reflection from the sample and can tunnel through it. For frequencies outside the band gap, the transmission and reflection probabilities oscillate with the increasing length of the sample. In both cases the reflection takes place into the complementary mode of the probe field. We investigate the influence of the finite excited state lifetime on the transmission and reflection coefficients of the probe light. We discuss possible experimental implementations of the SSL using alkali-metal atoms such as rubidium or sodium.

• OSTI ID: 21550192
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 83, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.063811; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOMS
CRYSTALS
DIRAC EQUATION
EQUATIONS OF MOTION
EXCITATION
GRADED BAND GAPS
LASER RADIATION
PARTICLES
PHOTONS
PROBABILITY
REFLECTION
RUBIDIUM
SODIUM
SPINORS
TRANSMISSION
VISIBLE RADIATION
ALKALI METALS
BOSONS
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
EQUATIONS
FIELD EQUATIONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
METALS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
RADIATIONS
WAVE EQUATIONS