Group Velocity of a Probe Light in an Ensemble of Lambda Atoms under Two-Photon Resonance

Abstract

We study the propagation of a probe light in an ensemble of $\Lambda$-type atoms, utilizing the dynamic symmetry as recently discovered when the atoms are coupled to a classical control field and a quantum probe field {[Sun {\it et al.,} Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 91}, 147903 (2003)]}. Under two-photon resonance, we calculate the group velocity of the probe light with collective atomic excitations. Our result gives the dependence of the group velocity on the common one-photon detuning, and can be compared with the recent experiment (E. E. Mikhailov, Y. V. Rostovtsev, and G. R. Welch, quant-ph/0309173).