Quantum resonant optical bistability with a narrow atomic transition: bistability phase diagram in the bad cavity regime

Autor(es)

Rivero, D. ; Pessoa Jr, C. A. ; de Franca, G. H. ; Teixeira, R. C. ; Slama, S. ; Courteille, Ph W.

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS; v. 25, n. 9, p. 17-pg., 2023-09-01.

Resumo

We report on the observation of a novel manifestation of saturation-induced optical bistability in a resonantly pumped optical ring cavity interacting strongly with a cloud of atoms via a narrow atomic transition. The bistability emerges, above a critical pump rate, as an additional peak in the cavity's normal mode spectrum close to atomic resonance. This third transmission peak is usually suppressed due to strong resonant absorption, but in our experiment it is visible because of the linewidth of the atomic transition being much smaller than that of the cavity, which sets the experiment into the bad-cavity regime. Relying on complete saturation of the transition, this bistability has a quantum origin and cannot be mimicked by a classical material presenting a nonlinear refraction index. The appearance of the central peak in addition to the normal modes is predicted by a semi-classical model derived from the Tavis-Cummings Hamiltonian from which we derive a bistability phase diagram that connects our observations with former work on optical bistability in the good cavity regime. The phase diagram reveals several so far unexplored bistable phases. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 22/00261-8 - Auto-organização e superradiance numa nuvem atômica interagindo com uma cavidade óptica
• Beneficiário: Philippe Wilhelm Courteille
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Pesquisa
• Processo FAPESP: 18/23873-3 - Transporte coerente de luz em amostras atômicas densas
• Beneficiário: Raul Celistrino Teixeira
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Jovens Pesquisadores