Frankfurt 2006 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help

Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 10: Quanteneffekte I

Q 10.2: Talk

Monday, March 13, 2006, 14:15–14:30, HII

Large refractive indices in collective atomic systems — •Mihai Macovei and Christoph H. Keitel — Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg.

Large indices of refraction have been suggested as candidate for a number of fascinating applications. Typically, however, they are accompanied by a large absorption of the medium, which prohibits a useful implementation [1]. We show that collective interactions of atoms via the vacuum fluctuations of the surrounding electromagnetic reservoir are suitable to generate transparent media with large indices of refraction of order 10 or high dispersion of arbitrary sign. For this purpose, we consider an atomic system consisting of two ensembles of two-level atoms with somewhat different transition frequencies and interacting with a single moderately strong laser field. Depending on the resonance condition for each kind of atom, one of the atomic species may contribute to a high refractive indices while the other one shifts the weak probe susceptibility resulting in zero absorption  [2].

[1] M. O. Scully and M. S. Zubairy, Quantum Optics (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. 1997).

[2] Mihai Macovei and Christoph H. Keitel, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 38, L315 (2005).