Storage and Retrieval of Thermal Light in Warm Atomic Vapor

摘要

We report slowed propagation and storage and retrieval of thermal light inwarm rubidium vapor using the effect of electromagnetically-inducedtransparency (EIT). We first demonstrate slowed-propagation of the probethermal light beam through an EIT medium by measuring the second-ordercorrelation function of the light field using the Hanbury-Brown$-$Twissinterferometer. We also report an experimental study on the effect of the EITslow-light medium on the temporal coherence of thermal light. Finally, wedemonstrate the storage and retrieval of thermal light beam in the EIT medium.The direct measurement of the photon number statistics of the retrieved lightfield shows that the photon number statistics is preserved during the storageand retrieval process.