Electromagnetically induced transparency from first-order dynamical systems

Abstract

We show how a strongly driven single-mode oscillator coupled to a first-order dynamical system gives rise to induced absorption or gain of a weak probe beam and associated fast or slow light depending on the detuning conditions. We derive the analytic solutions to the dynamic equations of motion, showing that the electromagnetically induced transparency- (EIT-) like response is a general phenomenology, potentially occurring in any nonlinear oscillator coupled to first-order dynamical systems. The resulting group delay (or advance) of the probe is fundamentally determined by the system damping rate. To illustrate the practical impact of this general theoretical framework, we quantitatively assess the observable consequences of either thermo-optic or free-carrier dispersion effects in conventional semiconductor microcavities in control/probe experiments, highlighting the generality of this physical mechanism and its potential for the realization of EIT-like phenomena in integrated and cost-effective photonic devices.