Transients of the electromagnetically-induced-transparency-enhanced refractive Kerr nonlinearity

M. V. Pack*, R. M. Camacho, J. C. Howell

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report observations of the dynamics of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a Λ system when the ground states are Stark shifted. Interactions of this type exhibit large optical nonlinearities called Kerr nonlinearities, and have numerous applications. The EIT Kerr nonlinearity is relatively slow, which is a limiting factor that may make many potential applications impossible. Using rubidium atoms, we observe the dynamics of the EIT Kerr nonlinearity using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer to measure phase modulation of the EIT fields resulting from a pulsed signal beam Stark shifting the ground state energy levels. The rise times and transients agree well with theory.

Original languageEnglish
Article number033835
JournalPhysical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Volume76
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 28 Sep 2007
Externally publishedYes

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