Bachelor's Defense by Signe Simonsen

In this thesis, I will discuss the interface of light and a lambda-type atomic medium. This interface consists of a quantum light field and a classical control field acting on an atomic ensemble to obtain stationary light. First, storage of the quantum light field is derived analytically in the adiabatic limit by solving the equations of motion for the beam splitter type interaction. Using the equation of the stored light, the time evolution of the stored wave packet is derived, which yields a propagating wave inside the atomic ensemble. To obtain propagation, the detuning from resonance needs to be much greater than 1/2. Finally, the analytical solution for propagation of light is compared with the numerical solution to obtain the condition of large optical depth of the atomic medium due to broadening of the stored wave packet.