Resonance beating of light stored using atomic spinor polaritons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the storage and retrieval of light in atomic rubidium vapor using a multilevel-tripod scheme, revealing resonance beating of spinor polaritons that could enable advanced quantum measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a novel multilevel-tripod scheme for light storage with atomic spinor polaritons, enabling observation of resonance beating at atomic transition frequencies.

Findings

Observation of resonance beating oscillations at atomic transition frequencies

Demonstration of light storage and retrieval using spinor polaritons

Potential applications in quantum measurements and switches

Abstract

We investigate the storage of light in atomic rubidium vapor using a multilevel-tripod scheme. In the system, two collective dark polariton modes exist, forming an effective spinor quasiparticle. Storage of light is performed by dynamically reducing the optical group velocity to zero. After releasing the stored pulse, a beating of the two reaccelerated optical modes is monitored. The observed beating signal oscillates at an atomic transition frequency, opening the way to novel quantum limited measurements of atomic resonance frequencies and quantum switches.