Coherently induced stop-bands in resonantly absorbing and inhomogeneously broadened doped crystals

Abstract

Inhomogeneously broadened doped solids supporting electromagnetically induced transparency are viable materials where optically tunable photonic band gaps may be observed and results are shown for Pr:YSO and nitrogen-vacancy color center materials. Such crystals, when coherently driven by a strong pump beam in a suitably designed standing wave configuration, exhibit a tunable stop-band with rather different values of the reflectivity. The different propagating behavior is investigated and characterized for a weak probe across the gap region of the two materials.