Superluminal Light Pulse Propagation at a Negative Group Velocity

By Lipo Wang, A. Dogariu, A. Kuzmich. 2000

266 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Anomalous dispersion cannot occur in a transparent, passive medium where electromagnetic radiation is being absorbed at all frequencies, as pointed out by Landau and Lifshitz. Here we show, using gain-assisted linear anomalous dispersion, that superluminal pulse propagation can occur in a transparent medium when gain is present. Superluminal light pulse propagation is observed at a negative group velocity of −c/315 through an atomic medium with little pulse distortion. Experimentally, a pulse propagating through the atomic vapor cell has its peak reaching the exit side before entering it, resulting in a negative transit time. This counterintuitive effect is a direct result of the rephasing process owing to the wave nature of light and is not at odds with causality.

Subfields: Acoustics and Ultrasonics, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/93052e94f6181720cce739a5033fd8eed97de37d

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In Acoustics and Ultrasonics

1. Toshihiro Nakanishi
2. Kazuhiko Sugiyama
3. Masao Kitano

In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

1. Toshihiro Nakanishi
2. Kazuhiko Sugiyama
3. Masao Kitano

Citations in the corpus

• Negative group delay and superluminal propagation: an electronic circuit approach (2003, methodology): “[8] extended this circuit by using two resonators which correspond to the two Raman gain lines [9], [10].”