Polarization decay of pulses of electromagnetically induced transparency on J=0→J=1→J=2 degenerate quantum transitions

Abstract

The evolution of radiation under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency in the scheme of degenerate quantum transitions J = 0 → J = 1 → J = 2 in the pulsed interaction regime of the fields and with allowance for the Doppler broadening of spectral lines has been analyzed numerically. It has been shown that, if the input coupling radiation is linearly polarized, the circularly polarized input probe pulse splits in the medium into pulses with mutually perpendicular linear polarizations. The direction of polarization of one of these pulses coincides with the direction of polarization of the input coupling field. The distance that the probe pulse travels in the medium until it completely decays decreases with a decrease in both the duration of the input probe pulse and the intensity of the input coupling radiation. A change in the power of the input probe pulse hardly affects the distance required for the decay and the velocity of propagation of linearly polarized pulses in the medium. An increase in the Doppler broadening of spectral lines leads to a decrease in this distance and, simultaneously, to an increase in the energy losses of the probe radiation. Qualitative considerations that explain the physical reason for the investigated effects have been presented.