Optical bistability enabled control of resonant light transmission for an atom-cavity system

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates optical bistability in an atom-cavity system with a four-level atomic model, analyzing steady state and transient behaviors for both stationary and non-static atoms, and explores control of light transmission via resonant beams.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed theoretical model of optical bistability in a four-level atom-cavity system, including open and closed atomic configurations, and extends analysis to three- and two-level systems for light control.

Findings

Optical bistability conditions are derived for the atom-cavity system.

Response of intra-cavity light intensity is characterized for stationary and non-static atoms.

Control mechanisms for resonant light transmission are demonstrated across different atomic configurations.

Abstract

The control of light transmission through a Fabry-Perot cavity containing atoms is theoretically investigated, when the cavity mode beam and an intersecting control beam are both close to specific atomic resonances. A four-level atomic system is considered and its interaction with the cavity mode is studied by solving for the time dependent cavity field and atomic state populations. The conditions for optical bistability of the atom-cavity system are obtained in steady state limit. For an ensemble of atoms in the cavity mode, the response of the intra-cavity light intensity to the intersecting resonant beam is understood for stationary atoms (closed system) and non-static atoms (open system). The open system is modelled by adjusting the atomic state populations to represent the exchange of atoms in the cavity mode, with the thermal environment. The solutions to the model are used to qualitatively explain the observed steady state and transient behaviour of the light in the cavity mode, in Sharma et. al. [1]. The control behaviour with three- and two-level atomic systems is also studied, and the rich physics arising out of these systems, for closed and open atomic systems is discussed.