Dark and bright Doppler-free resonances observed in atomic 87Rb vapor

Abstract

We investigate an inhomogeneously broadened four-level atomic system driven by two strong coherent fields and probed by a weak laser. By carefully adjusting strengths of the driving fields, we can observe a greatly enhanced peak between two dark resonances in the probe absorption spectrum. The enhanced absorption peak will split into two lower ones and then result in a third dark resonance if we gradually weaken one driving field. Ultimately, the whole probe absorption spectrum evolves towards the usual EIT spectrum with only one dark resonance. Based on appropriate numerical calculations and qualitative analysis, we show that the experimental results can be well understood by separately considering the probe absorptions arising from partial atoms with different velocities.