Manipulation of optical memory bits in atomic vapors and Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

We provide an exact analytic description of decelerating, stopping and re-accelerating optical solitons in atomic media. By virtue of this solution we describe in detail how spatially localized optical memory bits can be written down, read and moved along the atomic medium in a prescribed manner. Dynamical control over the solitons is realized via a background laser field whose intensity controls the velocity of the slow light in a similar way as in the linear theory of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We solve the nonlinear model when the controlling field and the solitons interact in an inseparable nonlinear superposition process. This allows us to access results beyond the limits of the linear theory of EIT.