Slow light in paraffin-coated Rb vapor cells

Abstract

We present preliminary results from an experimental study of slow light in anti-relaxation-coated Rb vapor cells, and describe the construction and testing of such cells. The slow ground state decoherence rate allowed by coated cell walls leads to a dual-structured electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectrum with a very narrow (<100 Hz) transparency peak on top of a broad pedestal. Such dual-structure EIT permits optical probe pulses to propagate with greatly reduced group velocity on two time scales. We discuss ongoing efforts to optimize the pulse delay in such coated cell systems.