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Laser Induced Atomic Coherence and Interference in Cold Atoms
Author(s) -
Yan Min,
Rickey Edward G.,
Zhu Yifu
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of the chinese chemical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.329
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 2192-6549
pISSN - 0009-4536
DOI - 10.1002/jccs.200100047
Subject(s) - chemistry , electromagnetically induced transparency , atomic coherence , laser , atomic physics , interference (communication) , coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) , photon , optics , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering , channel (broadcasting) , electrical engineering
We report experimental studies of electro magnetically induced transparency and enhancement of third‐order optical nonlinearities in A‐type atomic systems realized in 87 Rb atoms cooled and confined in a magneto‐optical trap. We observed complete transparency of a weak probe laser in the A type Rb system with a moderate coupling field. With a third pump laser tuned to a fourth atomic state, the atomic system exhibits the interference‐enhanced third‐order susceptibility and only absorbs two photons, but not one photon. Our experiment demonstrates large nonlinear absorption of the weak probe laser, from which greatly enhanced Kerr nonlinearity in the Rb system is inferred.