Switching from positive to negative dispersion in a three-level V system driven by a single coherent field

Abstract

We study the absorption and dispersion in the near-degenerate closed three-level V system, in which a single coherent driving field is tuned resonant with the average frequency of two dipole-allowed transitions. Firstly, the switching from positive to negative dispersion can be achieved simply by increasing the driving field intensity. This is the same as in the driven Λ system. Secondly, the common feature originates from the fact that both V and Λ systems have the same transitions in terms of atomic dressed states under given conditions. These dressed transitions interfere destructively in the central spectrum while the sideband resonance transitions determine the possible appearance of two pairs of absorption doublet lines and two pairs of gain doublet lines in the sideband spectrum. Thirdly, there are two minor differences between these two systems. For large driving field intensity, a narrow steep structure is always present in the central negative dispersion spectrum in the V system but it disappears in the Λ system. The driving field intensity for the appearance of the outer sideband absorption or gain peaks is larger in the V system than in the Λ system.