Tuning the sensitivity of an optical cavity with slow and fast light

David D. Smith; Krishna Myneni; H. Chang; A. Toftul; C. Schambeau; J. A. Odutola; J. C. Diels

doi:10.1117/12.914724

8 February 2012 Tuning the sensitivity of an optical cavity with slow and fast light

David D. Smith, Krishna Myneni, H. Chang, A. Toftul, C. Schambeau, J. A. Odutola, J. C. Diels

Proceedings Volume 8273, Advances in Slow and Fast Light V; 82730T (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.914724
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2012, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

We have measured mode pushing by the dispersion of a rubidium vapor in a Fabry-Perot cavity and have shown that the scale factor and sensitivity of a passive cavity can be strongly enhanced by the presence of such an anomalous dispersion medium. The enhancement is the result of the atom-cavity coupling, which provides a positive feedback to the cavity response. The cavity sensitivity can also be controlled and tuned through a pole by a second, optical pumping, beam applied transverse to the cavity. Alternatively, the sensitivity can be controlled by the introduction of a second counter-propagating input beam that interferes with the first beam, coherently increasing the cavity absorptance. We show that the pole in the sensitivity occurs when the sum of the effective group index and an additional cavity delay factor that accounts for mode reshaping goes to zero, and is an example of an exceptional point, commonly associated with coupled non- Hermitian Hamiltonian systems. Additionally we show that a normal dispersion feature can decrease the cavity scale factor and can be generated through velocity selective optical pumping.

Citation Download Citation

David D. Smith, Krishna Myneni, H. Chang, A. Toftul, C. Schambeau, J. A. Odutola, and J. C. Diels "Tuning the sensitivity of an optical cavity with slow and fast light", Proc. SPIE 8273, Advances in Slow and Fast Light V, 82730T (8 February 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.914724

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