Laser Pulse Sharpening with Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in Plasma

We propose a laser-controlled plasma shutter technique to generate sharp laser pulses using a process analogous to electromagnetically-induced transparency in atoms. The shutter is controlled by a laser with moderately strong intensity, which induces a transparency window below the cutoff frequency, and hence enables propagation of a low frequency laser pulse. Numerical simulations demonstrate it is possible to generate a sharp pulse wavefront (sub-ps) using two broad pulses in high density plasma. The technique can work in a regime that is not accessible by plasma mirrors when the pulse pedestals are stronger than the ionization intensity

Coherent interference effects and squeezed light generation in optomechanical systems

My Ph.D dissertation is on the fundamental effects in optomechanical systems (OMS) and their important applications. The OMS are based on the possibility of the mechanical motion produced by few photons incident on the mechanical device. This dissertation presents several applications of the OMS in the area of storage of light in long-lived phonons, single mode optomechanical Ramsey interferometry, and generation of large amount of squeezing in the output radiation. The long-lived phonons can be monitored and controlled via optical means as was experimentally demonstrated. To show this, I develop the theory of transient electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). For further applications like state transfer, especially over very different frequency regimes, I consider double-cavity OMS, where the two cavities can correspond to different spectral domains, yet the state transfer is possible via phonons. The state transfer is based on a new effect, electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA), where one uses a second control field from the other cavity to produce an absorption peak inside the EIT window. All these involve the interference of various path ways via which a final state is reached. The following chapter shows how Fano-like interference can arise in OMS. A Fano asymmetry parameter for OMS was defined.The last two chapters deal with the question if OMS can be efficient generators of squeezed light. I show by blue and red tuning the two cavities in a double-cavity OMS, one can generate effectively a two-mode parametric interaction which yields two-mode squeezed output with the squeezing magnitude of the order of 10dB. This requires a bath temperature of 10mK. Such temperatures obtained by using Helium dilution refrigerator are routinely used with superconducting OMS. The major part of this dissertation is devoted to the dispersive optomechanical interaction. However, the interaction can also be dissipative, where the mechanical displacement modulates the cavity decay rate. Such dissipative OMS have unusual quantum features. The last chapter discusses the squeezing capability of dissipative optomechanical interaction. Very large squeezing of the order of 10dB or more can be produced. Clearly the work of the earlier chapters can be extended to cover dissipative OMS