Controlling optical properties and optical bistability via an external magnetic field in a tripod-type atomic medium
Main Article Content
Abstract
We investigated control of optical bistability behavior based on the probe absorption and Kerr nonlinearity properties in a tripod-type degenerate four-level atom system under an external magnetic field. This excitation configuration can provide two transparent spectral regions on the probe absorption profile. It can be transitioned between the transparency and absorption regimes by turning on or off the magnetic field in different frequency domains. We can effortlessly transform one into two transparency windows, and vice versa, by modifying the intensity of the magnetic field. The investigations showed the enhancement of the Kerr nonlinearity around one/two-EIT windows, thereby forming one/two-channel optical bistability in these frequency regions. In addition, the coupling field intensity, the probe frequency detuning, and the atomic cooperation parameter have also significantly influenced the absorption spectrum, Kerr nonlinearity, and optical bistability. The proposed model has useful applications for storage and optical switching, and nonlinear logic gates in optical communications processing.
Keywords:
Tripod-type, light storage, transparency and absorption, Kerr nonlinearity, optical bistability
References
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[2] D. R. Solli and B. Jalali, Analog optical computing, Nat. Photonics 9(11), 704-706 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09430-z.
[3] Fleischhauer M, Imamoglu A, Marangos J P, “Electromagnetically induced transparency: optics in coherent media”, Rev. Mod. Phys. 77, 633 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.77.633.
[4] A. M. C. Dawes, L. Illing, S. M. Clark, et al., "All-optical switching in rubidium vapor," Science 308 (2005), 672–674. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.11101.
[5] S.H Asadpour, A. Eslami-Majd, Controlling the optical bistability and transmission coefficient in a four-level atomic medium, J. Lumin. 132 (2012) 1477–1482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlumin.2012.01.018.
[6] A H M Abdelaziz, and A K Sarma, "Effective control and switching of optical multistability in a three-level V-type atomic system", Phys. Rev. A, 102, 043719 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.102.043719.
[7] Y. Duan, G. Lin, S. Zhang, Y. Niu, S. Gong, Low light level all-optical switching in a four-level atom-cavity system, Opt. Commun. 358 (2016) 73-76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2015.09.043.
[8] H.M. Dong, Knob of swapping between slow and fast light in an inhomogeneously broadened medium by a static magnetic field, Phys. Letts A 519 (2024) 129715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physleta.2024.129715.
[9] K. Yadav, A. Wasan, Switching from EIT to EIA in a four-level N-type atomic system, Journal of Optics, 48 (2019) 65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12596-018-0495-5.
[10] Hamedi HR, Juzeliunas G. Phase-sensitive Kerr nonlinearity for closed-loop quantum systems. Phys Rev A 91 (2015) 053823. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.91.053823.
[11] H M Dong, N T Anh, and T D Thanh, "Controllable Kerr nonlinearity in a degenerate V-type inhomogeneously broadening atomic medium aided by a magnetic field", Opt Quant Electron. 54(4) (2022) 225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-022-03593-z.
[12] Liang H, Niu, Y.p., Deng, L. & Gong, S.q. Enhancement of Kerr nonlinearity completely without absorption. Phys. Lett. A 381 (2017) 3978-3982. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physleta.2017.10.048.
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[14] H R Hamedi, A H Gharamaleki, and M Sahrai, "Colossal Kerr nonlinearity based on electromagnetically induced transparency in a five-level double-ladder atomic system", Appl. Opt. 22 (2016) 5892. https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.55.005892.
[15] Sheng J, Yang X, Wu H, Xiao M. Modified self-Kerr-nonlinearity in a four-level N-type atomic system. Phys Rev A 84 (2011) 053820. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.053820.
[16] J. Kou, R. G. Wan, Z. H. Kang, H. H. Wang, L. Jiang, X. J. Zhang, Y. Jiang, and J. Y. Gao, EIT-assisted large cross-Kerr nonlinearity in a four-level inverted-Y atomic system, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, Vol. 27, No. 10 (2010) 2035. https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.27.002035.
[17] D Zhang, R Yu, J Li, C Ding, X Yang, "Laser-polarization-dependent and magnetically controlled optical bistability in diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers", Phys. Lett. A. 377, 2621 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physleta.2013.07.039.
[18] M A Antón, F Carreño, O G Calderón, S Melle, I Gonzalo, Optical switching by controlling the double-dark resonances in a N-tripod five-level atom, Opt. Commun. 281 (2008) 6040. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2008.09.049.
[19] Li JH, Lu XY, Luo JM, Huang QJ. Optical bistability and multistability via atomic coherence in an N-type atomic medium. Phys Rev A 74 (2006) 035801. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.74.035801.
[20] Sahrai M, Hamedi HR, Memarzadeh M. Kerr nonlinearity and optical multistability in a four-level Y-type atomic system. J. Mod. Opt. 59(11) (2012) 980-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500340.2012.684443.
[21] H.M. Dong, N.H. Bang, L.V. Doai, L.T.Y. Nga, “Knob of adjusting switching and optical multistability by static magnetic field under the relative phase in a V-type degenerate medium”, Chaos Solit Fractals 199 (2025) 116914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chaos.2024.116914.
[22] Y. Mu, L. Qin, Z. Shi and G. Huang, "Giant Kerr nonlinearities and magneto-optical rotations in a Rydberg-atom gas via double electromagnetically induced transparency", Phys. Rev. A 103 (2021) 043709. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.103.043709.
[23] S.H. Asadpour, H.R. Soleimani, Polarization dependence of optical bistability in the presence of external magnetic field, Opt. Commun. 310 (2014) 120–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2013.07.051.
[24] X Haifeng, "Optical bistability and multistability via both coherent and incoherent fields in a three-level system", Laser Phys. 29, (2019) 015205. https://doi.org/10.1088/1555-6611/aaed92.
[25] H Jafarzadeh, M Sahrai, K Ghaleh, "Controlling the optical bistability in a Λ-type atomic system via incoherent pump field", Appl. Phys. B. 117, (2014) 927-933. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-014-5910-z.
[26] D. Steck, 87Rb D line data, http://steck.us/alkalidata.