Evidence of slow-light effects from rotary drag of structured beams

Wisniewski-Barker, E., Gibson, G. , Franke-Arnold, S. , Shi, Z., Boyd, R.W. and Padgett, M.J. (2013) Evidence of slow-light effects from rotary drag of structured beams. New Journal of Physics, 15(8), 083020. (doi: 10.1088/1367-2630/15/8/083020)

Abstract

Self-pumped slow light, typically observed within laser gain media, is created by an intense pump field. By observing the rotation of a structured laser beam upon transmission through a spinning ruby window, we show that the slowing effect applies equally to both the dark and bright regions of the incident beam. This result is incompatible with slow-light models based on simple pulse-reshaping arising from optical bleaching. Instead, the slow-light effect arises from the long upper-state lifetime of the ruby and a saturation of the absorption, from which the Kramers–Kronig relation gives a highly dispersive phase index and a correspondingly high group index.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gibson, Dr Graham and Padgett, Professor Miles and Franke-Arnold, Professor Sonja
• Authors: Wisniewski-Barker, E., Gibson, G., Franke-Arnold, S., Shi, Z., Boyd, R.W., and Padgett, M.J.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: New Journal of Physics
• Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing Ltd.
• ISSN: 1367-2630
• ISSN (Online): 1367-2630
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2013 The Authors
• First Published: First published in New Journal of Physics 15(8):083020
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License