Giant electro-optic effect using polarizable dark states
Abstract
The electro-optic effect, where the refractive index of a medium is modified by an electric field, is of central importance in non-linear optics, laser technology, quantum optics and optical communications. In general, electro-optic coefficients are very weak and a medium with a giant electro-optic coefficient would have profound implications for non-linear optics, especially at the single photon level, enabling single photon entanglement and switching. Here we propose and demonstrate a giant electro-optic effect based on polarizable dark states. We demonstrate phase modulation of the light field in the dark state medium and measure an electro-optic coefficient that is more than 12 orders of magnitude larger than in other gases. This enormous Kerr non-linearity also creates the potential for precision electrometry and photon entanglement.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0804.3273,
title = {Giant electro-optic effect using polarizable dark states},
author = {A. K. Mohapatra and M. G. Bason and B. Butscher and K. J. Weatherill and C. S. Adams},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0804.3273},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
To appear in Nature Physics