Photorefractive deceleration of light pulses

We theoretically study the effect of light deceleration in photorefractive nonlinear media. This includes consideration of different types of the photorefractive nonlinear response, different wave interaction schemes, and an analysis of the influence of the input parameters, such as the input temporal pulse width and the coupling strength, on the output pulse characteristics: the time delay, the propagation velocity, the amplification factor, and the output width. We show that photorefractive light deceleration has numerous advantages over other known techniques. It works already at low intensities, at room temperature, and within wide spectral ranges and offers a vast variety of handles for manipulating light pulses. An analogy with the light deceleration method based on the quantum effect of electromagnetically induced transparency in ultracold resonant gases is also considered.