Photonic properties of one-dimensionally-ordered cold atomic vapors under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency

TL;DR

This paper experimentally investigates one-dimensional cold atomic vapors under electromagnetically induced transparency, revealing narrow, tunable photonic band gaps and demonstrating an all-optical switch as a potential application.

Contribution

It introduces the photonic properties of 1D cold atomic vapors with EIT, highlighting narrow, tunable photonic band gaps and demonstrating a practical all-optical switching device.

Findings

Identification of two photonic band gaps, one in the transparency window.

Demonstration of a narrow, tunable Bragg mirror.

Implementation of a two-port all-optical switch.

Abstract

We experimentally study the photonic properties of a cold-atom sample trapped in a one-dimensional optical lattice under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. We show that such a medium has two photonic band gaps. One of them is in the transparency window and gives rise to a Bragg mirror, which is spectrally very narrow and dynamically tunable. We discuss the advantages and the limitations of this system. As an illustration of a possible application we demonstrate a two-port all-optical switch.