We consider group delay and broadening using two strongly absorbing and
widely spaced resonances. We derive relations which show that very large pulse
bandwidths coupled with large group delays and small broadening can be
achieved. Unlike single resonance systems, the dispersive broadening dominates
the absorptive broadening which leads to a dramatic increase in the possible
group delay. We show that the double resonance systems are excellent candidates
for realizing all-optical delay lines. We report on an experiment which
achieved up to 50 pulse delays with 40% broadening.Comment: 4 pages 4 figure
