Electromagnetically Induced Transparency and Light Storage in an Atomic Mott Insulator

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates electromagnetically induced transparency and light storage in a Mott insulator of ultracold rubidium atoms, achieving record storage times and enabling controlled light redirection through phase imprinting.

Contribution

It presents the first experimental realization of light storage in a Mott insulator with ultracold atoms and introduces a method for controlled light redirection via phase gradients.

Findings

Achieved 240 ms light storage time, the longest in ultracold atomic samples.

Demonstrated controlled angular redirection of retrieved light.

First to realize light storage in a Mott insulator state.

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate electromagnetically induced transparency and light storage with ultracold 87Rb atoms in a Mott insulating state in a three dimensional optical lattice. We have observed light storage times of about 240 ms, to our knowledge the longest ever achieved in ultracold atomic samples. Using the differential light shift caused by a spatially inhomogeneous far detuned light field we imprint a "phase gradient" across the atomic sample, resulting in controlled angular redirection of the retrieved light pulse.