Electromagnetically induced transparency and ultraslow optical solitons in a coherent atomic gas filled in a slot waveguide

We investigate the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and nonlinear pulse propagation in a Λ-type three-level atomic gas filled in a slot waveguide, in which electric field is strongly confined inside the slot of the waveguide due to the discontinuity of dielectric constant. We find that EIT effect can be greatly enhanced due to the reduction of optical-field mode volume contributed by waveguide geometry. Comparing with the atomic gases in free space, the EIT transparency window in the slot waveguide system can be much wider and deeper, and the Kerr nonlinearity of probe laser field can be much stronger. We also prove that using slot waveguide ultraslow optical solitons can be produced efficiently with extremely low generation power.