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Four-wave-mixing stopped light in hot atomic rubidium vapour

Nature Photonics volume 3, pages 103–106 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Digital signal processing, holography, and quantum and classical information processing rely heavily upon recording the amplitude and phase of coherent optical signals. One method for achieving coherent information storage makes use of electromagnetically induced transparency. Storage is achieved by compressing the optical pulse using the steep dispersion of the electromagnetically induced transparency medium and then mapping the electric field to local atomic quantum-state superpositions. Here we show that nonlinear optical processes may enhance pulse compression and storage, and that information about the nonlinear process itself may be stored coherently. We report on a pulse storage scheme in hot atomic rubidium vapour, in which a four-wave-mixing normal mode is stored using a double-Λ configuration. The entire (broadened) waveform of the input signal is recovered after several hundred microseconds (1/e time of about 120 µs), as well as a new optical mode (idler) generated from the four-wave-mixing process.

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Figure 1: Four-wave-mixing storage experiment and energy-level diagram.
Figure 2: Four-wave-mixing resonance.
Figure 3: Storage and retrieval of four-wave-mixing normal mode.
Figure 4: Signal retrieval efficiency versus storage time.
Figure 5: Measured average idler pulse power versus coupling beam input power.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) Slow Light program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, 14627, New York, USA

    Ryan M. Camacho, Praveen K. Vudyasetu & John C. Howell

  2. The Thomas J. Watson, Sr. Laboratories of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125, California, USA

    Ryan M. Camacho

Authors
  1. Ryan M. Camacho
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  2. Praveen K. Vudyasetu
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  3. John C. Howell
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the conception and design of the experiment and its physical interpretation. R.M.C and P.V.K. built the apparatus, took the data, and analysed the data. R.M.C. wrote the manuscript with input from P.V.K. and J.C.H.

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Correspondence to Ryan M. Camacho.

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Camacho, R., Vudyasetu, P. & Howell, J. Four-wave-mixing stopped light in hot atomic rubidium vapour. Nature Photon 3, 103–106 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.290

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