Ultraslow optical waveguiding in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract

We investigate waveguiding of ultraslow light pulses in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. We show that under the conditions of off-resonant electromagnetically induced transparency, waveguiding with a few ultraslow modes can be realized. The number of modes that can be supported by the condensate can be controlled by means of experimentally accessible parameters. Propagation constants and the mode conditions are determined analytically using a Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin analysis. Mode profiles are found numerically.