Optical switching, bistability and pulse propagation in five-level quantum schemes

Abstract

We explore the effect of a control field on the optical properties of a probe field in five-level inverted Y-type atom–light coupling schemes. While in the absence of the control field, it is discovered that the system is opaque for the probe field. When the control field is turned on, the medium switches to transparency for the probe field. In addition to analytical solutions, numerical results are given in terms of a Gaussian intensity profile of the probe field to elucidate such optical switching. Considering all orders of the probe field, we also study the absorption features of the atomic medium in a unidirectional ring cavity, giving rise to optical bistability. It is shown that in this model, the OB threshold can be controlled by both the control field intensity as well as probe field detuning.