Abstract

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) may be used to enhance the net efficiency of nonlinear generation processes in multilevel atomic systems.^1,2 Stoicheff and co-workers experimentally demonstrated the possibility of obtaining higher conversion efficiency for second-harmanoic generation and four-wave mixing by using EIT in atomic hydrogen.² Recently, we demonstrated the EIT effect in lambda-type and cascade-type three-level systems of rubidium atoms using cw low-power diode lasers and a Doppler-free configuration.³ This paper reports theoretical and experimental investigations of enhancement of nonlinear-optical processes by using the EIT effect in these three- level systems.

© 1995 Optical Society of America