Dispersive effects on optical information storage in Bose-Einstein condensates with ultraslow short pulses

Abstract

We investigate the potential of atomic Bose–Einstein condensates as dynamic memory devices for coherent optical information processing. Specifically, the number of ultraslow pulses that can be simultaneously present within the storage time in the condensate has been analyzed. By modeling short-pulse propagation through the condensate, taking into account high-order dispersive properties, constraints on the information storage capacity are discussed. The roles of temperature, spatial inhomogeneity, the interatomic interactions, and the coupling laser on the pulse shape are pointed out. For a restricted set of parameters, it has been found that coherent optical information storage capacity would be optimized.