Issue |
EPL
Volume 98, Number 2, April 2012
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 24001 | |
Number of page(s) | 6 | |
Section | Electromagnetism, Optics, Acoustics, Heat Transfer, Classical Mechanics, and Fluid Dynamics | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/98/24001 | |
Published online | 25 April 2012 |
High-order optical nonlinearity at low light levels
Department of Physics and the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics, Duke University - Durham, NC 27708, USA
Received:
16
January
2012
Accepted:
20
March
2012
We observe a nonlinear optical process in a gas of cold atoms that simultaneously displays the largest reported fifth-order nonlinear susceptibility χ(5)=1.9×10− 12 (m/V)4 and high transparency. The nonlinearity results from the simultaneous cooling and crystallization of the gas, and gives rise to efficient Bragg scattering in the form of six-wave mixing at low light levels. For large atom-photon coupling strengths, the back-action of the scattered fields influences the light-matter dynamics. We confirm this interpretation by investigating the nonlinearity for different polarization configurations. In addition, we demonstrate excellent agreement between our experimental measurements and a theoretical model with no free parameters, and compare our results to those obtained using alternative approaches. This system may have important applications in many-body physics, quantum information processing, and multidimensional soliton formation.
PACS: 42.65.-k – Nonlinear optics / 37.10.Jk – Atoms in optical lattices / 37.10.Vz – Mechanical effects of light on atoms, molecules, and ions
© EPLA, 2012
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