Steady optical spectra and light propagation dynamics in cold atomic samples with homogeneous or inhomogeneous...

We study both steady and dynamic optical responses of three samples with the same amounts of cold atoms but very different density functions. These samples are driven into the regime of electromagnetically induced transparency by a probe and a coupling in the Lambda configuration. When the coupling is in the traveling-wave pattern, all samples have the same transmission spectra and therefore identical transmitted pulses at the sample exits. In the case of a standing-wave coupling, however, very different reflection and transmission spectra are found for the three samples. Accordingly, reflected pulses at the sample entrances and transmitted pulses at the sample exits are quite sensitive to the spatial inhomogeneity of cold atoms. These interesting phenomena are qualitatively analyzed in terms of constructive and destructive interference between forward and backward probe photons scattered by a standing-wave atomic grating.