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Ultraslow light propagation in an inhomogeneously broadened rare-earth ion-doped crystal

Elisa Baldit·Kamel Bencheikh·Paul Monnier·Juan Ariel Levenson·Vincent Rouget
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Abstract

We show that Coherent Population Oscillations effect allows to burn a narrow spectral hole (26Hz) within the homogeneous absorption line of the optical transition of an Erbium ion-doped crystal. The large dispersion of the index of refraction associated with this hole permits to achieve a group velocity as low as 2.7m/s with a ransmission of 40%. We especially benefit from the inhomogeneous absorption broadening of the ions to tune both the transmission coefficient, from 40% to 90%, and the light group velocity from 2.7m/s to 100m/s.

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Elisa Baldit, Kamel Bencheikh, Paul Monnier, Juan Ariel Levenson, Vincent Rouget. 2005-03-09. Ultraslow light propagation in an inhomogeneously broadened rare-earth ion-doped crystal. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.95.143601

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