Intensity-dependent dispersion under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency in coherently prepared multi-state atoms

Abstract

Interest in lossless nonlinearities has focussed on the the dispersive properties of $\Lambda$ systems under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We generalize the lambda system by introducing further degenerate states to realize a `Chain $\Lambda$' atom where multiple coupling of the probe field significantly enhances the intensity dependent dispersion without compromising the EIT condition.

6 pages, 7 figures, revtex 4, Two errors corrected (|D_0^{(7)}> and R^{(7)}, Replaced with version accepted in Phys. Rev. A