Subnatural linewidth for probe absorption in an electromagnetically-induced-transparency medium due to Doppler averaging

Abstract

We obtain subnatural linewidth (i.e. $<\Gamma$) for probe absorption in room-temperature Rb vapor using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a $\Lambda$ system. For stationary atoms, the EIT dip for a resonant control laser is as wide as the control Rabi frequency $\Omega_c$. But in thermal vapor, the moving atoms fill the transparency band so that the final EIT dip remains subnatural even when $\Omega_c > \Gamma$. We observe linewidths as small as $\Gamma/7$ in the $D_2$ line of Rb.