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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Quasi-light Storage for Optical Data Packets
Published on: February 6, 2014
Storage and time reversal of light pulses using photon echoes
Abstract:
We have studied the temporal profile of photon-echo signals generated by combined gated cw and pulsed dye-laser excitation of the inhomogeneously broadened, 555.6-nm absorption line of (174)Yb vapor. We find that the echo profile is, after time reversal, essentially identical with that of the first excitation pulse. We give a new analysis of this effect. Since time-reversed pulse reproduction should also occur in inhomogeneously broadened solid samples, and since we observe time-reversed reproduced pulses up to 4% as intense as the input pulse, this effect may have important applications in optical signal-processing systems.
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