Double Dark States Research Articles

Sensitive detection of radio-frequency field phase with interacting dark states in Rydberg atoms.

An efficient scheme of phase measurement of a radio-frequency (RF) field is proposed by interacting dark states. Under the condition of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), the four-level Rydberg atom exhibits two windows. Compared with the transmission spectrum on resonance, the linewidths of absorption peaks off resonance are very narrow due to the interaction of double dark states. It is interesting to find that the distance of absorption peaks shifts approximately linearly with the phase of an RF field, which can be used to measure the RF field phase. Simulation results show that the linewidth of an absorption peak can be narrowed by more than one order of magnitude, and a narrow linewidth improves the detectable minimum phase difference by more than six times. It helps to reduce analyzation complexity and increase sensing resilience. The dependence of phase measurement on the control field and RF field is also investigated.

Manipulation of optical nonreciprocity in hot atom-cavity system

Hot atoms can exhibit non-magnetic optical non-reciprocal transmission due to their chiral properties, which are characteristic of most alkali metal atoms. In fact, the nonreciprocity in hot atoms depends on the propagation direction of the coupling field due to the Doppler effect. Herein, the reciprocal to non-reciprocal conversion based on the single- and double-dark states is realized by controlling the bidirectional coupling fields in a three-level electromagnetically induced transparent medium coupled with a ring cavity. Tuning the frequency difference between the two coupling fields causes the multi-frequency-channel reciprocity and nonreciprocity manipulation to occur. The experimental proof can be applied to quantum communications and quantum networks, such as optical transistors, all-optical switching or routing and logic gate operation.

Thermal-motion-induced optical switching with standing-wave coupled atom-cavity system

We report an experimental scheme of three-channel all-optical switching based on the conversion between single and double dark states in an atom-ring-cavity system driven by a coherent standing-wave coupling field. By turning on and off the counter-propagating part of the coupling field, the switching for the probe field at three different frequencies is simultaneously achieved. We give a theoretical interpretation to the experimental results via the intracavity susceptibility for thermal atoms at different velocities. The switching performance is experimentally analyzed by introducing an additional coherent pumping light.

Tunable photonic band gaps and optical nonreciprocity by an RF-driving ladder-type system in moving optical lattice

We investigate photonic transport properties of the 1D moving optical lattices filled with vast cold atoms driven into a four-level ladder-type system and obtain dynamically controlled photonic bandgaps and optical nonreciprocity. It is found that the two obvious optical nonreciprocity can be generated at two well-developed photonic bandgaps based on double dark states in the presence of a radio-frequency field. However, when the radio-frequency field is absence, the only one induced photonic bandgaps with distinguishing optical nonreciprocity can be opened up via single dark state. Dynamic control of the induced photonic bandgaps and optical nonreciprocity could be exploited to achieve all-optical diodes and routing for quantum information networks.

Tunable interaction-free all-optical switching in a five-level atom-cavity system

A scheme is proposed for tunable all-optical switching based on the double-dark states in a five-level atom-cavity system. In the scheme, the output signal light of the reflection and the transmission channels can be switched on or off by manipulating the control field. When the control light is coupled to the atom-cavity system, the input signal light is reflected by the cavity. Thus, there is no direct coupling between the control light and the signal light. Furthermore, the position of the double-dark states can be changed by adjusting the coherent field, and, thus, the switching in our scheme is tunable. By presenting the numerical calculations of the switching efficiency, we show that this type of the interaction-free all-optical switching can be realized with high switching efficiency.

Tunneling-assisted coherent population transfer and creation of coherent superposition states in triple quantum dots

A scheme is proposed for coherent population transfer and creation of coherent superposition states assisted by one time-dependent tunneling pulse and one time-independent tunneling pulse in triple quantum dots. Time-dependent tunneling, which is similar to the Stokes laser pulse used in traditional stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, can lead to complete population transfer from the ground state to the indirect exciton states. Time-independent tunneling can also create double dark states, resulting in the distribution of the population and arbitrary coherent superposition states. Such a scheme can also be extended to multiple quantum dots assisted by one time-dependent tunneling pulse and more time-independent tunneling pulses.

Dispersive and absorptive properties of a Λ-type atomic system with two fold lower-levels

The dispersion and the absorption properties of a driven four-level Λ-type atomic system is investigated. It is found that the interaction of double-dark states lead to controllable group velocity of the weak probe field by the intensity of driving field and the relative phase between applied fields. Moreover, the transient dispersion, absorption and the group index are also discussed. The required switching time for switching the group velocity of a weak probe field from subluminal to superluminal pulse propagation is then discussed.

Enhanced vacuum Rabi splitting and double dark states in a composite atom-cavity system

The transmission spectrum of four-level atoms in a cavity is calculated. It is shown that the four separate peaks associated with normal mode splitting and intra-cavity double dark states can be observed simultaneously. The position and intensity of the four peaks can be controlled by the intensity of the third interacting light. Therefore, the enhancement of normal mode splitting by a third coupling light of the intra-cavity four-level atoms is developed.

Coherent phenomena due to double-dark states in a system with decay interference

We theoretically analyze the interaction of a quantum system with a single ground state and three excited states that interacts with a pulsed laser field. The three excited states decay outside of the system to the same state. The dynamics of the system is studied by solving the coupled Maxwell-Schr\"odinger equations. We first present conditions for obtaining dark states of the system. These dark states lead to the phenomenon of coherent population trapping for strong applied fields. In addition, the existence of dark states leads to transparency at two different frequencies of a probe field. Slow light, at two different frequencies, can also occur. We present analytical results and verify those results with numerical solutions of the coupled Maxwell-Schr\"odinger equations.

Atom localization via interference of dark resonances

A scheme of atom localization based on the interference of resonance of double-dark states is proposed, in which the atom interacts with a classical standing-wave field. It is found that the localization property is significantly improved due to the interaction of double-dark resonances. It is realized that the atom is localized just at the nodes of the standing-wave field with higher precision. Moreover, an improvement by a factor of 2 in the detecting probability of a single atom within the subwavelength domain can be achieved by adjusting the probe-field detuning. This scheme shows more advantages than other schemes of atom localization.

Controllable group velocity of the probe light in a Λ-type system with two fold levels

The group velocities of the probe laser field are studied in a Λ-type system where one lower state has two fold levels coupled by a control field. It is found that the interaction of double dark states leads to controllable group velocity of the probe field in this system. It can be easily realized, due to the interacting double dark resonances, that one of the group velocities at transparency positions is much slower than the other by tuning the control field to be off resonance. In particular, when the control field is on resonance, we can obtain two equal slow group velocities with a broader EIT width, which provides potential applications in quantum storage and retrieval of light.

Creation of atomic coherent superposition states via the technique of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage using aΛ-type system with a manifold of levels

We propose a scheme for creating atomic coherent superposition states via the technique of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage in a $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$-type system where the final state has twofold levels. With the application of a control field, it is found that the presence of double dark states leads to two arbitrary coherent superposition states with equal amplitude but inverse relative phases, even though the condition of multiphoton resonance is not met. In particular, two orthogonal maximal coherent superposition states are created when the control field is resonant with the transition of the twofold levels. This scheme can also be extended to manifold $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$-type systems.

Unexpected Doppler-free resonance in generalized double dark states

Doppler-free resonances have been observed in Rb atomic vapor coherently driven by two strong-coupling fields in an intrinsically non-Doppler-free geometry. A four-level theoretical model explains the experimental results. The explanation of the physics is based on the interplay between coherences generated in a four-level system.