Superluminal and Ultraslow Light Propagation in Optomechanical Systems

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how an optomechanical double-ended cavity can control light propagation speed, achieving both superluminal and subluminal regimes with low power, and explores mirror vibration excitations via a time-dependent probe.

Contribution

It introduces a method to switch between superluminal and subluminal light propagation in optomechanical cavities using a coupling laser.

Findings

Group delay of 1 ms achieved at low power

Possibility of both superluminal and subluminal propagation

Controlled excitation of mirror vibrations

Abstract

We consider an optomechanical double-ended cavity under the action of a coupling laser and a probe laser in electromagnetically induced transparency configuration. It is shown how the group delay and advance of the probe field can be controlled by the power of the coupling field. In contrast to single-ended cavities, only allowing for superluminal propagation, possibility of both superluminal and subluminal propagation regimes are found. The magnitudes of the group delay and the advance are calculated to be 1ms and -2s, respectively, at a very low pumping power of a few microwatts. In addition, interaction of the optomechanical cavity with a time dependent probe field is investigated for controlled excitations of mirror vibrations.