Electromagnetically induced left-handedness in a dense gas of three-level atoms

Abstract

We discuss how a three level system can be used to change the frequency dependent magnetic permeability of an atomic gas to be significantly different from one. We derive the conditions for such a scheme to be successful and briefly discuss the resulting macroscopic electrodynamics. We find that it may be possible to obtain left handed electrodynamics for an atomic gas using three atomic levels.

Coherent Magnetic Response at Optical Frequencies Using Atomic Transitions

“…It was recognized early on that it may also be possible to construct left-handed materials using sharp transitions of atoms or ions [16][17][18][19][20]. When an electron makes a transition from the ground level to an excited level, it can do so by either interacting with the electric field or the magnetic field of light.…”

Magnetic Response and Negative Refraction at Optical Frequencies on the Basis of Electronic Transitions in Rare-Earth Ions Doped Crystals

“…Whereas, to break the limitation of optical metamaterials, electron transition between energy levels in atoms might be a useful alternative as a unit to achieve EM resonance in visible optical region [13]. A mechanism on the basis of electric and magnetic dipole transitions in gas media was proposed recently [14,15]. However, compared to electric dipolar oscillator, magnetic dipolar oscillator in most atoms is much weaker, so direct magnetic transition is usually omitted.…”

A Dressed-State Assisted Left-Handed Coherent Medium for High-Gain Optical Amplification

“…In the approaches of quantum coherence, however, there are two bottlenecks that should be resolved in order to realize simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability: i) It would be difficult in finding suitable atomic level structures that can give rise to simultaneous electric-and magnetic-dipole allowed transitions. That is to say, it would not be so easy to obtain the simultaneous on-resonance transitions for achieving simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability, since, in almost all the atoms, any electric-and magnetic-dipole transition frequencies in any atomic systems of various configurations are in principle not equal; ii) Loss in the quantum-coherent left-handed media [17][18][19][20] is often quite large (e.g., the magnitude of the imaginary part of the refractive index is close to the magnitude of its real part, i.e., Im n |Re n|), and such negatively refracting materials would in fact be not realistic for practical applications. Here, we shall overcome these two bottlenecks by using a dressed-state assisted quantum-coherent double-negative gaseous atomic medium.…”

“…Here, we shall overcome these two bottlenecks by using a dressed-state assisted quantum-coherent double-negative gaseous atomic medium. We will suggest a different scheme of quantum coherence [17][18][19][20] for realizing the negative refractive index, which takes full advantage of pumped mixed-parity transitions for achieving the simultaneous electric-and magnetic-dipole responses. This will lead to a three-dimensionally isotropic gain medium of negative refractive index.…”

“…Obviously, the impact would be enormous if an isotropic and homogeneous material of simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability can be realized by using new scenarios such as quantum optical approach [17][18][19][20], in which photonic resonance and quantum coherence are involved [21][22][23]. In the approaches of quantum coherence, however, there are two bottlenecks that should be resolved in order to realize simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability: i) It would be difficult in finding suitable atomic level structures that can give rise to simultaneous electric-and magnetic-dipole allowed transitions.…”