Magnetic Field-controlled Transmission and Ultra-narrow Superradiant Lasing by Dark Atom-light Dressed States

Abstract

Optical lattice clock systems with ultra-cold strontium-88 atoms have been used to demonstrate superradiant lasing and magnetic field-controlled optical transmission. We explain these phenomena theoretically with a rigorous model for three-level atoms coupled to a single cavity mode. We identify a class of dark atom-light dressed states which become accessible due to mixing with bright dressed states in the presence of a magnetic field. We predict that these states, under moderate incoherent pumping, lead to lasing with a linewidth of only tens of Hz, orders of magnitude smaller than the cavity linewidth and the atomic incoherent decay and pumping rates.