Enhanced Deflection of Light Ray by Atomic Ensemble on Coherent Population Oscillation

Abstract

In recent experiments[e.g., Nature Physics 2, 332 (2006)], the enhanced light deflection in an atomic ensemble due to inhomogeneous fields is demonstrated by the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) based mechanism. In this paper, we explore an different mechanism for the similar phenomenon of the enhanced light deflection. This mechanism is based on the coherent population oscillation, which leads to the hole burning in the absorption spectrum. The medium causing the deflection of probe light is an ensemble of two-level atoms manipulated by a strong controlled field on the two photon resonances. In the large detuning condition, the response of the medium to the pump field and signal field is obtained with steady state approximation. And it is found that after the probe field travels across the medium, the signal ray bends due to the spatial-dependent profile of the control beam.