Optically induced Faraday effect using three-level atoms

D. Cho, Jai Min Choi, Jang Myun Kim, Q. Han Park

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We investigate an all-optical, pump-probe scheme for the polarization rotation of linearly polarized light in an atomic medium. A circularly polarized control light is shown to play the role of a static magnetic field via a Zeeman-like ac Stark interaction and to induce the optical Faraday rotation (OFR) of the probe light. As a model system, we consider a stationary atom with \par\parnS-nP-nD\par\par level scheme without electronic or nuclear spin. In addition to OFR, we find that electromagnetically induced transparency for the three-level atom and circular dichroism also contribute to the polarization change. We characterize these three effects over different frequency ranges through an explicit calculation of the fractional transmission and the output polarization of the probe light. Our results are compared with the \par\parnS-nP-\par(n+1)\parS\par\par scheme, which has been previously studied both theoretically and experimentally. We also compare the optically induced Faraday effect with the Faraday effect from a static magnetic field. We propose an experimental situation to test the theory and address the possibility of producing an atomic medium that is both optically active and transparent.

Original languageEnglish
Article number023821
JournalPhysical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Volume72
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2005 Aug

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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