356 research outputs found
Storing images in warm atomic vapor
Reversible and coherent storage of light in atomic medium is a key-stone of
future quantum information applications. In this work, arbitrary
two-dimensional images are slowed and stored in warm atomic vapor for up to 30
s, utilizing electromagnetically induced transparency. Both the intensity
and the phase patterns of the optical field are maintained. The main limitation
on the storage resolution and duration is found to be the diffusion of atoms. A
techniqueanalogous to phase-shift lithography is employed to diminish the
effect of diffusion on the visibility of the reconstructed image
Measurement of Dicke Narrowing in Electromagnetically Induced Transparency
Dicke narrowing is a phenomena that dramatically reduces the Doppler width of
spectral lines, due to frequent velocity-changing collisions. A similar
phenomena occurs for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) resonances,
and facilitates ultra-narrow spectral features in room-temperature vapor. We
directly measure the Dicke-like narrowing by studying EIT line-shapes as a
function of the angle between the pump and the probe beams. The measurements
are in good agreement with an analytic theory with no fit parameters. The
results show that Dicke narrowing can increase substantially the tolerance of
hot-vapor EIT to angular deviations. We demonstrate the importance of this
effect for applications such as imaging and spatial solitons using a
single-shot imaging experiment, and discuss the implications on the feasibility
of storing images in atomic vapor.Comment: Introduction revise
Topological stability of stored optical vortices
We report an experiment in which an optical vortex is stored in a vapor of Rb
atoms. Due to its 2\pi phase twist, this mode, also known as the Laguerre-Gauss
mode, is topologically stable and cannot unwind even under conditions of strong
diffusion. To supplement our finding, we stored a flat phase Gaussian beam with
a dark center. Contrary to the optical vortex, which stays stable for over 100
microseconds, the dark center in the retrieved flat-phased image was filled
with light at storage times as small as 10 microseconds. This experiment proves
that higher electromagnetic modes can be converted into atomic coherences, and
that modes with phase singularities are robust to decoherence effects such as
diffusion. This opens the possibility to more elaborate schemes for two
dimensional information storage in atomic vapors.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures v2: minor grammatical corrections v3: problem with
references fixed v4: minor clarifications added to the tex
Theory of Dicke narrowing in coherent population trapping
The Doppler effect is one of the dominant broadening mechanisms in thermal
vapor spectroscopy. For two-photon transitions one would naively expect the
Doppler effect to cause a residual broadening, proportional to the wave-vector
difference. In coherent population trapping (CPT), which is a narrow-band
phenomenon, such broadening was not observed experimentally. This has been
commonly attributed to frequent velocity-changing collisions, known to narrow
Doppler-broadened one-photon absorption lines (Dicke narrowing). Here we show
theoretically that such a narrowing mechanism indeed exists for CPT resonances.
The narrowing factor is the ratio between the atom's mean free path and the
wavelength associated with the wave-vector difference of the two radiation
fields. A possible experiment to verify the theory is suggested.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; Introduction revise
Coherent Diffusion of Polaritons in Atomic Media
Coherent diffusion pertains to the motion of atomic dipoles experiencing
frequent collisions in vapor while maintaining their coherence. Recent
theoretical and experimental studies on the effect of coherent diffusion on key
Raman processes, namely Raman spectroscopy, slow polariton propagation, and
stored light, are reviewed in this Colloquium.Comment: Submitted to Review of Modern Physic
Ramsey-like measurement of the decoherence rate between Zeeman sub-levels
Two-photon processes that involve different sub-levels of the ground state of
an atom, are highly sensitive to depopulation and decoherence within the ground
state. For example, the spectral width of electromagnetically induced
transparency resonances in type system, are strongly affected by the
ground state depopulation and decoherence rates. We present a direct
measurement of decay rates between hyperfine and Zeeman sub-levels in the
ground state of Rb vapor. Similar to the relaxation-in-the-dark
technique, pumping lasers are used to pre-align the atomic vapor in a well
defined quantum state. The free propagation of the atomic state is monitored
using a Ramsey-like method. Coherence times in the range 1-10 ms were measured
for room temperature atomic vapor. In the range of the experimental parameters
used in this study, the dominant process inducing Zeeman decoherence is the
spin-exchange collisions between rubidium atoms.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
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