Demonstration of a high-contrast optical switching in an atomic Delta system

Abstract

We present an experimental study of a Δ system in a room temperature, dilute sample of 85 Rb atoms. A Δ system in the D2 manifold of 85 Rb is formed by connecting the two lower hyperfine energy levels of a Λ system by a microwave drive field at 3.0357GHz. We show that when the Rabi frequency of a microwave drive field exceeds that of the optical probe field, a three-wave mixing nonlinear interaction is established. This nonlinear interaction changes the enhanced transmission of the optical probe to a deep absorption for a relative phase difference of π between all the three fields. We establish through our experiment and our numerical simulation, the phase-sensitive and nonlinear nature of the Δ system's response to the applied microwave and optical fields. Using this feature, we demonstrate a high-contrast microwave phase controlled switch for the optical probe field. In comparison with intensity and phase switching demonstrated with all-optical fields so far, our experiment opens up the possibility of obtaining the highest contrast optical switching with room temperature atoms.

Phase-sensitive amplification of an optical field using microwaves

“…1. This system is commonly referred to as a ∆ (closed-Λ) system [21]. The coupling field is derived directly from an external cavity diode laser operating at 795 nm and which has a typical line-width of few hundred kHz.…”

Holstein–Primakoff (H‐P) Approach to Determine the Optical Response of Hybrid Optomechanical System Containing Multiple Quantum Dots

“…In this section, we will study the effect of number of QDs on these two main important characteristics of the optical switch. There is a huge demand for communication networks with large capacity for data transmission and processing information at high rates [111,112] and for this reason, optical interconnects are preferred over electronic interconnects. The main advantage of optical switching is that it allows optical data streams to be routed without having to convert them to electrical signals, therefore it is not limited by data protocol or rate.…”

Controllable bistable optical switch and normal mode splitting in hybrid optomechanical semiconductor microcavity containing single quantum dot driven by amplitude modulated field

“…The vast development of worldwide data and huge demand for communication networks with large capacity for data transmission and processing information with fast rates requires large bandwidth and low consumption of power [52,53] and for this optical interconnects are more preferable than electronic interconnects. The foundation of all-optical switching rests on the nonlinear Kerr effect which arises due to refractive index variation of nonlinear material induced by a control light [54].…”