Experimental Investigation of the Transition between Autler-Townes Splitting and Electromagnetically-Induced Transparency

L. Giner (1) , L. Veissier (1) , B. Sparkes (2) , A.S. Sheremet (1, 3) , A. Nicolas (1) , O.S. Mishina (4) , M. Scherman (1, 5) , S. Burks (1) , I. Shomroni (6) , D.V. Kupriyanov (3) , P.K. Lam (2) , E. Giacobino (1) , J. Laurat (1)

1 LKB (Jussieu) - Laboratoire Kastler Brossel
2 ANU - Australian National University
3 SPBSPU - Department of Theoretical Physics, State Polytechnic University
4 UdS - UdS
5 ONERA - The French Aerospace Lab [Palaiseau]
6 Weizmann - Weizmann

Two phenomena can affect the transmission of a weak signal field through an absorbing medium in the presence of a strong additional field: electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and Autler-Townes splitting (ATS). Being able to discriminate between the two is important for various applications. Here we present an experimental investigation into a method that allows for such a disambiguation as proposed in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 163604 (2011)]. We apply the proposed test based on Akaike's information criterion to a coherently driven ensemble of cold cesium atoms and find a good agreement with theoretical predictions, therefore demonstrating the suitability of the method. Additionally, our results demonstrate that the value of the Rabi frequency for the ATS/EIT model transition in such a system depends on the level structure and on the residual inhomogeneous broadening.

Domaines: Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

L. Giner, L. Veissier, B. Sparkes, A.S. Sheremet, A. Nicolas, et al.. Experimental Investigation of the Transition between Autler-Townes Splitting and Electromagnetically-Induced Transparency. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2013, 87 (1), pp.013823. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.87.013823⟩. ⟨hal-00711828⟩