Comparative study of index of refraction: The strongly driven and the degenerate two-level systems

This study compares the experimental results of absorption and refractive index of a probe laser measured in a strongly driven two-level atom with the results measured in a degenerate two-level system using pump-probe spectroscopy. This work demonstrates the possibility of realization an anomalous dispersive transparent medium using the strongly driven 4s^{2 1}S₀ - 4s4p ¹P₁ Ca transition. Absorption and phase shift profiles are measured as function of the driving field intensity using a Ca atomic beam. With increasing driving field intensities absorption and phase shift decrease, but the absorption decreases stronger than the dispersion. Results show that the resonant absorption and the anomalous dispersion are reduced with respect to the non-driving case by a factor 490 and 47, respectively. This means that a ~ 10-fold enhancement of the amount of dispersion provided per amount of absorption is attained.