Open AccessTransition between superluminal and subluminal light propagation in photorefractive Bi12SiO20 crystals
Author(s) -
Bo Fang,
Guoquan Zhang,
Jingjun Xu
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/opex.13.008198
Subject(s) - superluminal motion , photorefractive effect , optics , physics , group velocity , phase conjugation , mixing (physics) , light beam , coupling (piping) , nonlinear optics , slow light , signal beam , light intensity , beam (structure) , laser , materials science , photonic crystal , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
We demonstrated superluminal light propagation with a negative group velocity of -5.7 m/s in a photorefractive Bi 12SiO20 crystal by using the dispersive phase coupling effect in a nondegenerate two-wave mixing process. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first experimental demonstration of superluminal light propagation at room temperature in solids by using a classical wave mixing technique. In addition, we showed the tunability of the group velocity of light between the negative (superluminal light) and the positive (subluminal light) by simply tuning the experimental conditions such as the frequency of the coupling beam, the incident intensity, and the externally applied electric fields.