Optical image cloning based on electromagnetic induced absorption

We investigate, both theoretically and experimentally, optical image cloning via electromagnetic induced absorption (EIA). We demonstrate the transfer of small 2D real images imprinted onto a strong coupling beam to a weak probe beam in a Rb vapor cell. We show through EIA that the coupling beam's image is cloned beyond the usual diffraction, with a potential improvement in spatial resolution of the cloned image by a factor of three in comparison to that of the original coupling beam. Optical cloning through EIA is based on position selective nonlinear absorption, and it does not rely on spatial modulation of the refractive index. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America