title: Observation of quantum destructive interference in inelastic two-wave mixing.
abstract: Using room-temperature 87Rb atoms we demonstrate a quantum destructive interference between two one-photon excitation pathways in an inelastic two-wave mixing scheme that corresponds to the "strong-storage and weak-retrieval" of an optical field. This destructive interference is fundamentally different from the usual electromagnetically induced transparency because it is critically dependent on the generation and propagation of a wave-mixing field. We also show that contrary to the common belief, the maximum atomic coherence in general does not lead to the maximum mixing-wave conversion efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Electron & Optical Physics Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Payne