"Slow Light" and "Slow Current"

Abstract

It is shown that the effect of hole-burning under conditions of coherent population oscillations as well as the light pulse delay in a saturable absorber (a modification of the "slow light" effect) can be interpreted, in a comprehensive way, in terms of {\it intensity spectrum} of the light and {\it intensity-related susceptibility} of the non-linear medium. The physical content of these effects is illustrated by a simple electric circuit with a non-linear resistor which realizes a full analog of the saturable absorber. In this case the effect of hole-burning in the absorption spectrum of the medium is converted in to the effect of hole-burning in the frequency dependence of resistance of the non-linear resistor and the effect of "slow light" -- in to the effect of "slow current".

To be published in Optics and Spectroscopy (january issue, 2008)