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Optical parametric oscillation with distributed feedback in cold atoms

Nature Photonics volume 6, pages 101–104 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

There is currently a strong interest in mirrorless lasing systems1, in which the electromagnetic feedback is provided either by disorder (multiple scattering in the gain medium) or by order (multiple Bragg reflection). These mechanisms correspond, respectively, to random lasers2 and photonic crystal lasers3. The crossover regime between order and disorder, or correlated disorder, has also been investigated with some success4,5,6. Here, we report one-dimensional photonic-crystal lasing (that is, distributed feedback lasing7,8) with a cold atom cloud that simultaneously provides both gain and feedback. The atoms are trapped in a one-dimensional lattice, producing a density modulation that creates a strong Bragg reflection with a small angle of incidence. Pumping the atoms with auxiliary beams induces four-wave mixing, which provides parametric gain. The combination of both ingredients generates a mirrorless parametric oscillation with a conical output emission, the apex angle of which is tunable with the lattice periodicity.

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Figure 1: Schematics of the set-up.
Figure 3: Emitted laser power and maximum FWM reflectivity as a function of pump power.
Figure 2: Transverse mode of the emitted beam.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Research Executive Agency (program COSCALI, no. PIRSES-GA-2010-268717).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physikalisches Institut, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 14, Tübingen, D-72076, Germany

    Alexander Schilke, Claus Zimmermann & William Guerin

  2. Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, 13560-970, SP, Brazil

    Philippe W. Courteille

Authors
  1. Alexander Schilke
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  2. Claus Zimmermann
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  3. Philippe W. Courteille
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  4. William Guerin
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Contributions

A.S. and W.G. performed the experiment and analysed the data, W.G. supervised the project and wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William Guerin.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Schilke, A., Zimmermann, C., Courteille, P. et al. Optical parametric oscillation with distributed feedback in cold atoms. Nature Photon 6, 101–104 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2011.320

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