Controlled light storage in a double lambda system.pdf

a r X i v : q u a n t - p h / 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 v 2 6 M a r 2 0 0 2 Controlled light storage in a double lambda system A. Raczyn?ski ? and J. Zaremba Instytut Fizyki, Uniwersytet Miko laja Kopernika, ul.Grudzia?dzka 5, 87-100 Torun?, Poland Abstract It is shown theoretically that after light storing in a medium of four-level atoms it is possible to release a new pulse of a different frequency, the process being steered by another driving beam. It is also possible to store one pulse and to release two different ones, with their time separation and heights being controlled. PACS numbers: 42.50.Gy, 03.67.-a ?email: raczyn@phys.uni.torun.pl 1 It has been shown both theoretically and experimentally (see, e.g., Refs [1–5] and a review [6]) that a light pulse, propagating in a medium composed of three-level atoms in a Λ configuration, suitably driven by another pulse, can be stopped and later released in a controlled way. The process is interpreted in terms of inducing a transient Raman coherence between two lower atomic states or, in the language of quasi-particles, in terms of an adiabatic evolution of the so-called dark-state polariton [1,2]. Natural questions arise whether it is possible to convert the stored light in a controlled way into a pulse of a frequency different from that of the stopped one, or into more pulses of different frequencies, or what happens if the Raman coherence is due to a transient absorption of more than one pulse. Some experimental results concerning light frequency conversion during the process of its storing and retrieving in a four-level system have recently been mentioned by Matsko et al. [6]. In this paper we present a complete theoretical analysis of the situations when a four- level-atom medium is driven by two control laser fields and, after stopping one or two probe pulses, one or two pulses can be released. We also point out the possibility of controlling the process by a relative time shift of the control fields. Consider a quasi