Slow light beam splitter.
We demonstrate a slow light beam splitter using rapid coherence transport in a wall-coated atomic vapor cell. We show that particles undergoing random and undirected classical motion can mediate coherent interactions between two or more optical modes. Coherence, written into atoms via electromagnetically induced transparency using an input optical signal at one transverse position, spreads out via ballistic atomic motion, is preserved by an antirelaxation wall coating, and is then retrieved in outgoing slow light signals in both the input channel and a spatially-separated second channel. The splitting ratio between the two output channels can be tuned by adjusting the laser power. The slow light beam splitter may improve quantum repeater performance and be useful as an all-optical dynamically reconfigurable router.
Xiao
Yanhong
Y
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Klein
Mason
M
Hohensee
Michael
M
Jiang
Liang
L
Phillips
David F
DF
Lukin
Mikhail D
MD
Walsworth
Ronald L
RL