Simultaneous negative permittivity and permeability in a coherent atomic vapour

A new quantum optical mechanism to realize simultaneously negative electric permittivity and magnetic permeability is suggested. In order to obtain a negative permeability, we choose a proper atomic configuration that can dramatically enhance the contribution of the magnetic-dipole allowed transition via the atomic phase coherence. It is shown that the atomic system chosen with proper optical parameters can give rise to striking electromagnetic responses （leading to a negative refractive index） and that the atomic vapour becomes a left-handed medium in an optical frequency band. Differing from the previous schemes of artificial composite metamaterials （based on classical electromagnetic theory） to achieve the left-handed materials, which consist of anisotropic millimetre-scale composite structure units, the left-handed atomic vapour presented here is isotropic and homogeneous at the atomic-scale level. Such an advantage may be valuable in realizing the superlens （and hence perfect image） with left-handed atomic vapour.

Electromagnetically induced moiré optical lattices in a coherent atomic gas

Electromagnetically induced optical(or photonic)lattices via atomic coherence in atomic ensembles have recently received great theoretical and experimental interest.We here conceive a way to generate electromagnetically induced moiréoptical lattices—a twisted periodic pattern when two identical periodic patterns(lattices)are overlapped in a twisted angle(θ)—in a three-level coherent atomic gas working under electromagnetically induced transparency.We show that,changing the twisted angle and relative strength between the two constitutive sublattices,the moiréBloch bands that are extremely flattened can always appear,resembling the typical flat-band and moiréphysics found in other contexts.Dynamics of light propagation in the induced periodic structures demonstrating the unique linear localization and delocalization properties are also revealed.Our scheme can be implemented in a Rubidium atomic medium,where the predicted moiréoptical lattices and flattened bands are naturally observable.

Storage and retrieval of ultraslow optical solitons in coherent atomic system

We investigate the propagation of intense probe pulses in a lifetime broadened A-type three-level atomic system with a configuration of electromagnetically induced transparency. We find that ultraslow optical solitons formed by a balance between dispersion and nonlinearity can be stored and retrieved in the system by switching off and on a control field. Such pulses are robust during storage and retrieval, and hence may have potential applications in optical and quantum information processing.

Nonclassicality of photon-modulated atomic coherent states in the Schwinger bosonic realization

We theoretically introduce two new photon-modulated atomic coherent states(ACSs)via using the Schwinger bosonic representation of the angular momentum operators(the sequential operations J±n)on an ACS,and investigate their nonclassicality using the Wigner distribution,photon number distribution,and entanglement entropy.It is found that photonmodulated ACSs possess more stronger nonclassicality than the original ACS in certain regions ofτ,the nonclassicality enhances with increasing number n of the operations J±and the operation J+(-)n enhances the entanglement in the region of small(large)τ.

Atomic coherent states as energy eigenstates of a Hamiltonian describing a two-dimensional anisotropic harmonic potential in a uniform magnetic field

In this paper we find that a set of energy eigenstates of a two-dimensional anisotropic harmonic potential in a uniform magnetic field is classified as the atomic coherent states ｜τ） in terms of the spin values of j in the Schwinger bosonic realization. The correctness of the above conclusions can be verified by virtue of the entangled state 〈η｜ representation of the state ｜τ）.

Wave function for the squeezed atomic coherent state in entangled state representation and some of its applications

Based on the Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen （EPR） entangled state representation, this paper introduces the wave function for the squeezed atomic coherent state （SACS）, which turns out to be just proportional to a single-variable ordinary Hermite polynomial of order 2j. As important applications of the wave function, the Wigner function of the SACS and its marginal distribution are obtained and the eigenproblems of some Hamiltonians for the generalized angular momentum system are solved.

Microwave coherent manipulation of cold atoms in optically induced fictitious magnetic traps on an atom chip

We propose a novel on-chip platform for controlling and manipulating cold atoms precisely and coherently. The scheme is achieved by producing optically induced fictitious magnetic traps（OFMTs） with 790 nm（for -（87）Rb） circularly polarized laser beams and state-dependent potentials simultaneously for two internal atomic states with microwave coplanar waveguides. We carry out numerical calculations and simulations for controlled collisional interactions between OFMTs and addressable single atoms＇ manipulation on our designed hybrid atom chips. The results show that our proposed platform is feasible and flexible, which has wide applications including collisional dynamics investigation, entanglement generation,and scalable quantum gates implementation.

Coherence-enhanced entanglement between two atoms at high temperature

This paper studies the entanglement properties in a system of two dipole-dipole coupled two-level atoms resonantly interacting with a single-mode thermal field. The results show that, when the temperature of the cavity is high enough （corresponding to the large value of the mean photon number）, the entanglement is greatly enhanced due to the initial atomic coherence. These results are helpful for controlling the atomic entanglement by changing the initial parameters of the system.

Stable ^(85)Rb micro vapour cells:fabrication based on anodic bonding and application in chip-scale atomic clocks

We describe the microfabrication of ^85Rb vapour cells using a glass-silicon anodic bonding technique and in situ chemical reaction between rubidium chloride and barium azide to produce Rb. Under controlled conditions, the pure metallic Rb drops and buffer gases were obtained in the cells with a few mm^3 internal volumes during the cell sealing process. At an ambient temperature of 90 ℃ the optical absorption resonance of ^85Rb D1 transition with proper broadening and the corresponding coherent population trapping （CPT） resonance, with a signal contrast of 1.5% and linewidth of about 1.7 kHz, have been detected. The sealing quality and the stability of the cells have also been demonstrated experimentally by using the helium leaking detection and the after-9-month optoelectronics measurement which shows a similar CPT signal as its original status. In addition, the physics package of chip-scale atomic clock （CSAC） based on the cell was realized. The measured frequency stability of the physics package can reach to 2.1 × 10^-10 at one second when the cell was heated to 100 ℃ which proved that the cell has the quality to be used in portable and battery-operated devices.

Coherent population trapping magnetometer by differential detecting magneto–optic rotation effect

A pocket coherent population trapping（CPT） atomic magnetometer scheme that uses a vertical cavity surface emitting laser as a light source is proposed and experimentally investigated.Using the differential detecting magneto–optic rotation effect,a CPT spectrum with the background canceled and a high signal-to-noise ratio is obtained.The experimental results reveal that the sensitivity of the proposed scheme can be improved by half an order,and the ability to detect weak magnetic fields is extended one-fold.Therefore,the proposed scheme is suited to realize a pocket-size CPT magnetometer.

Atomic coherence control on the entanglement of two atoms in two-photon processes

Considering two identical two-level atoms interacting with a single-mode thermal field through two-photon processes, this paper studies the atomic coherence control on the entanglement between two two-level atoms, and finds that the entanglement is greatly enhanced due to the initial atomic coherence. The results show that the entanglement can be manipulated by changing the initial parameters of the system, such as the superposition coefficients and the relative phases of the initial atomic coherent state and the mean photon number of the cavity field.

Efficient three-wave mixing in a three-level atomic medium with an assisting microwave driven field

The potential for nonlinear conversion between two laser pulses in a three-level V-type medium with assistance of an auxiliary microwave resonant radiation is studied. The results show that microwave driven field can lead to the parametric generation of a new laser pulse with high conversion efficieney when a weak pump laser pulse is applied.

Continuously tunable sub-half-wavelength localization via coherent control of spontaneous emission

We propose a continuously tunable method of sub-half-wavelength localization via the coherent control of the spontaneous emission of a four-level Y-type atomic system, which is coupled to three strong coupling fields including a standing-wave field together with a weak probe field. It is shown that the sub-half-wavelength atomic localization is realized for both resonance and off-resonance cases. Furthermore, by varying the probe detuning in succession, the positions of the two localization peaks are tuned continuously within a wide range of probe field frequencies, which provides convenience for the realization of sub-half-wavelength atomic localization experimentally.

Multiple frequency conversion via atomic spin coherence of storing a light pulse

We experimentally demonstrate multiple frequency conversion via atomic spin coherence of storing a light pulse in a doped solid. The essence of this multiple frequency conversion is four-wave mixing based on stored atomic spin coherence. Through electromagnetically induced transparency, an input probe pulse is stored into atomic spin coherence by modulating the intensity of the control field. By using two different control fields to interact with the coherently prepared medium, the stored atomic spin coherence can be transformed into three different information channels. Multiple frequency conversion is implemented efficiently by manipulating the spectra of the control fields to scatter atomic spin coherence. This multiple frequency conversion is expected to have potential applications in information processing and communication network.

Preparation of steady-state entanglement via a laser-excited resonant interaction

In this paper we propose a scheme in which two-mode entanglement in a steady state is produced by using two lasers to resonantly drive a single four-level atom embedded inside a two-mode optical cavity. In this scheme, atomic coherence induced by a classical laser plays an important role in the process of preparing the entangled state. With the coupling of a strong control field, direct two-photon transition is generated and the relatively weak pump field induces the parametric interaction between two photons, which makes them entangle with each other. By numerical calculation, we find that the degree of entanglement depends strongly on the Rabi frequencies of the classical laser fields and the cavity losses.

Surface plasmon polaritons induced reduced hacking

There is always need for secure transmission of information and simultaneously compact-size photonic circuits. This can be achieved if surface plasmon-polaritons(SPPs) are used as source of information, and the reduced hacking as the transmission phenomenon. In this article, an SPP-based reduced hacking scheme is presented at interface between atomic medium and metallic conductor. The SPP propagation is manipulated with conductivity of the metal. The delay or advance of the SPP is found to create nanosecond time gap which can be used for storing and sending the information safely. The reduced hacking is further modified with conductivity of the metal and the control parameters of the atomic medium.

Ultrafast population transfer in a Λ-configuration level system driven by few-cycle laser pulses

The feasibility of population transfer from a populated level via an intermediate state to the target level driven by few-cycle pulses is theoretically discussed. The processes of on- or far-resonance stimulated Raman scattering with sequential or simultaneous ultrashort pulses are investigated respectively. We find that the ultrashort pulses with about two optical cycles can be used to realize the population operation. This suggests that the population transfer can be completed in the femtosecond time scale. At the same time, our simulation shows that the signal of the carrier-envelope-phase-dependent effect can be enlarged due to quantum interference in some conditions. Our theoretic study may promote the research on the coherent control via ultrashort pulses in the related fields.

Experimental demonstration of optical Bloch oscillation in electromagnetically induced photonic lattices

The optical Bloch oscillation(OBO)is an optical-quantum analogy effect that is significant for light field manipulations,such as light beam localization,oscillation and tunneling.As an intra-band oscillation,OBO was important for optical investigations in photonic lattices and atomic vapors over an extended period of time.However,OBO in reconfigurable platforms is still an open topic,even though tunability is highly desired in developing modern photonic techniques.Here we theoretically establish and experimentally demonstrate OBO in an electromagnet-ically induced photonic lattice with a ramping refractive index,established in a coherently-prepared three-level 85 Rb atomic vapor under the electromagnetically induced transparency condition.This is achieved by interfering two coupling beams with Gaussian profiles and launching a probe beam that exhibits OBO within the resulting lattice.The induced reconfigurable photonic lattice possesses a transverse gradient,due to the innate edges of Gaussian beams,and sets a new stage for guiding the flow of light in periodic photonic environments.Our results should motivate better understanding of peculiar physical properties of an intriguing quantum-optical analogy in an atomic setting.