Slow light in saturable absorbers

TL;DR

This paper revisits the theory of slow light in saturable absorbers, providing explicit analytical expressions for pulse transmission and optimizing parameters for maximum delay, comparing theoretical limits with experimental results.

Contribution

It introduces explicit analytical formulas for pulse propagation in saturable absorbers and identifies optimal parameters for maximizing slow light effects.

Findings

Derived analytical expressions for transmitted pulses

Identified parameters for optimal time-delay

Compared theoretical maximum delays with experimental data

Abstract

In connection with the experiments recently achieved on doped crystals, biological samples, doped optical fibers and semiconductor heterostructures, we revisit the theory of the propagation of a pulse-modulated light in a saturable absorber. Explicit analytical expressions of the transmitted pulse are obtained, enabling us to determine the parameters optimizing the time-delay of the transmitted pulse with respect to the incident pulse. We finally compare the maximum fractional delay or figure of merit so attainable to those which have been actually demonstrated in the experiments.