Low-light-level optical interactions with rubidium vapor in a photonic band-gap fiber

We show that rubidium vapor can be produced within the core of a photonic band-gap fiber yielding an optical depth in excess of 2000. Our technique for producing the vapor is based on coating the inner walls of the fiber core with organosilane and using light-induced atomic desorption to release Rb atoms into the core. As an initial demonstration of the potential of this system for supporting ultralow-level nonlinear optical interactions, we perform electromagnetically induced transparency with control-field powers in the nanowatt regime, which represents more than a 1000-fold reduction from the power required for bulk, focused geometries.