Optical attenuation without absorption
Quantum Physics
2019-07-31 v2
Abstract
We consider a coherent state of light propagating through an ensemble of two-level atoms where all the atoms are initially in their ground state. In ordinary absorption, the transition of atoms to their excited state along with the absorption of a photon will remove energy from the beam and attenuate the signal. Here we show that post-selecting on those cases in which none of the atoms made a transition to the excited state can give even more attenuation than would normally occur due to absorption. The same process can also produce amplification when there is a sufficiently strong interaction between the photons and the atoms.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1903.02041,
title = {Optical attenuation without absorption},
author = {I. C. Nodurft and R. A. Brewster and T. B. Pittman and J. D. Franson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.02041},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
9 pages, 9 figures