Controlling multi-wave mixing signals via photonic band gap of electromagnetically induced absorption grating in atomic media

We experimentally demonstrate dressed multi-wave mixing (MWM) and the reflection of the probe beam due to electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) grating can coexist in a five-level atomic ensemble. The reflection is derived from the photonic band gap (PBG) of EIA grating, which is much broader than the PBG of EIT grating. Therefore, EIA-type PBG can reflect more energy from probe than EIT-type PBG does, which can effectively affect the MWM signal. The EIA-type as well as EIT-type PBG can be controlled by multiple parameters including the frequency detunings, propagation angles and powers of the involved light fields. Also, the EIA-type PBG by considering both the linear and third-order nonlinear refractive indices is also investigated. The theoretical analysis agrees well with the experimental results. This investigation has potential applications in all-optical communication and information processing.