Slow-light through nonlinear wave-mixing in liquid crystal light-valves

Slow-light is obtained through nonlinear wave-mixing in a liquid crystal light-valve. A deceleration of light pulses down to group velocities as small as 0.2 mm/s is achieved when two-wave-mixing is performed with a continuous pump and a time modulated signal. A model accounts for the observations in the general framework of nonlinear wave-mixing in thin media. The large group delay provided by the light-valve is exploited to enhance the spectral sensitivity of an interferometer, whereas the narrow frequency bandwidth of the two-wave-mixing gain is used to realize an adaptive holographic system that allows achieving subpicometer detection. To cite this article: U. Bortolozzo et al., C. R. Physique 10 (2009).