2D asymmetric diffraction grating controlled by vortex light in double-Λ-type atomic system

Abstract

A two-dimensional (2D) asymmetric diffraction grating controlled by vortex light in a double-Λ-type atomic system is studied. Such an atomic system is driven by a weak traveling-wave probe field and a signal field, a position-dependent strong standing-wave (SW) control field, and a Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) vortex field. Due to the asymmetric properties of the LG vortex field, the probe photons can be asymmetrically diffracted into four different domains after passing through the atomic media. The Diffraction patterns and intensities of the 2D asymmetric diffraction grating can be manipulated by the detuning of the probe field, the interaction length, and the intensity of SW control field. In addition, the relative phase and the azimuth parameter which is closely related to the vortex light also can be used to regulate the asymmetric diffraction grating effectively. This work may provide useful reference for optical information processing, especially for the design of optical beam dividers with desired intensities and novel quantum devices requiring asymmetric optical transmission.