We demonstrate a technique for generating tunable all-optical delays in room temperature single-mode optical fibers at telecommunication wavelengths using the stimulated Brillouin scattering process. This technique makes use of the rapid variation of the refractive index that occurs in the vicinity of the Brillouin gain feature. The wavelength at which the induced delay occurs is broadly tunable by controlling the wavelength of the laser pumping the process, and the magnitude of the delay can be tuned continuously by as much as 25 ns by adjusting the intensity of the pump field. The technique can be applied to pulses as short as 15 ns. This scheme represents an important first step towards implementing slow-light techniques for various applications including buffering in telecommunication systems.

Strong coupling between a two-level system (TLS) and bosonic modes produces dramatic quantum optics effects. We consider a one-dimensional continuum of bosons coupled to a single localized TLS, a system which may be realized in a variety of plasmonic, photonic, or electronic contexts. We present the exact many-body scattering eigenstate obtained by imposing open boundary conditions. Multiphoton bound states appear in the scattering of two or more photons due to the coupling between the photons and the TLS. Such bound states are shown to have a large effect on scattering of both Fock-and coherent-state wave packets, especially in the intermediate coupling-strength regime. We compare the statistics of the transmitted light with a coherent state having the same mean photon number: as the interaction strength increases, the one-photon probability is suppressed rapidly, and the two-and three-photon probabilities are greatly enhanced due to the many-body bound states. This results in non-Poissonian light.

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We demonstrate that alternans in small pieces of in vitro paced bullfrog (Rana Catesbeiana) myocardium can be suppressed by making minute adjustments to the pacing period in response to real time measurements of the action potential duration. Control is possible over a large range of physiological conditions over many animals and the self-referencing control protocol can automatically adjust to changes in the pacing interval. Our results suggest the feasibility of developing low-energy methods for maintaining normal cardiac function.

We analyze a mathematical model of paced cardiac muscle consisting of a map relating the duration of an action potential to the preceding diastolic interval as well as the preceding action potential duration, thereby containing some degree of "memory." The model displays rate-dependent restitution so that the dynamic and S1-S2 restitution curves are different, a manifestation of memory in the model. We derive a criterion for the stability of the 1:1 response pattern displayed by this model. It is found that the stability criterion depends on the slope of both the dynamic and S1-S2 restitution curves, and that the pattern can be stable even when the individual slopes are greater or less than one. We discuss the relation between the stability criterion and the slope of the constant-BCL restitution curve. The criterion can also be used to determine the bifurcation from the 1:1 response pattern to alternans. We demonstrate that the criterion can be evaluated readily in experiments using a simple pacing protocol, thus establishing a method for determining whether actual myocardium is accurately described by such a mapping model. We illustrate our results by considering a specific map recently derived from a three-current membrane model and find that the stability of the 1:1 pattern is accurately described by our criterion. In addition, a numerical experiment is performed using the three-current model to illustrate the application of the pacing protocol and the evaluation of the criterion.