Three-level
Λ Configuration: EIT, CPT & Adiabatons
A probe field on one transition and a coupling field on the other create a dark state decoupled from the excited level. Phenomena include slow light, electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), coherent population trapping (CPT), light storage and retrieval, and adiabatic population transfer (adiabatons).
- Λ-Type Three-Level: Weak Pulse, No Coupling
- Λ-Type Three-Level: Weak Pulse, With Coupling
- Λ-Type Three-Level: Weak Pulse with Coupling in a Cloud — Pulse Compression
- Λ-Type Three-Level: Weak Pulse with Time-Dependent Coupling in a Cloud — Storage and Retrieval
- Λ-Type Three-Level: Coherent Population Trapping (CPT)
- Λ-Type Three-Level: Adiabatons
V Configuration: Matched Pulses & Simultons
Two fields share the same excited state. When the combined pulse areas satisfy the V-system area theorem, the fields lock together into shape-preserving simulton solutions that propagate without loss.
- V-Type Three-Level: 0.5π Sech Pulse, 0.5π Coupling
- V-Type Three-Level: 0.5π Sech Pulse, 1.5π Coupling — Simulton Propagation
- V-Type Three-Level: √2π Sech Pulse, √2π Coupling
- V-Type Three-Level: √8π Sech Pulse, √8π Coupling
- V-Type Three-Level: √18π Sech Pulse, √18π Coupling
- V-Type Three-Level: Solitons form Simulton
- V-Type Three-Level: Weak CW, √2π Coupling: Optical Surfer
- V-Type Three-Level: Weak CW, √4π Coupling: Double Optical Surfer
Ladder (Ξ) Configuration: EIT, Autler-Townes & Rydberg
A probe drives the lower transition and a coupling field drives the upper transition, creating two-photon coherence between ground and top state. Phenomena include EIT, Autler-Townes dressed-state splitting, and Doppler-narrowed Rydberg EIT in thermal vapour.