Stationary Light Pulses without Bragg Gratings

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new understanding of stationary light pulses as resulting from multiple four-wave mixing processes, enabling their creation without Bragg gratings and broadening their applicability in quantum optics.

Contribution

It presents a general framework for SLP formation beyond Bragg gratings and reports the first experimental observation of bichromatic SLPs without such gratings.

Findings

First experimental bichromatic SLP observed without Bragg gratings

SLPs can be generated directly from propagating pulses

Enhanced control of SLPs for quantum optics applications

Abstract

The underlying mechanism of the stationary light pulse (SLP) was identified as a band gap being created by a Bragg grating formed by two counter-propagating coupling fields of similar wavelength. Here we present a more general view of the formation of SLPs, namely several balanced four-wave mixing processes sharing the same ground-state coherence. Utilizing this new concept we report the first experimental observation of a bichromatic SLP at wavelengths for which no Bragg grating can be established. We also demonstrate the production of a SLP directly from a propagating light pulse without prior storage. Being easily controlled externally makes SLPs a very versatile tool for low-light-level nonlinear optics and quantum information manipulation.