Slow light in narrow paraffin-coated vapor cells

Alkali vapor cells with antirelaxation coated walls can have long atomic coherence times. However, using such coated cells in the hyperfine configuration for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) requires longitudinal atomic motion to be confined to less than the hyperfine wavelength. We employed a narrow (1 mm) coated cell geometry to study hyperfine EIT and slow and stored light in warm ⁸⁷Rb vapor, with results comparable to those in buffer gas cells and showing the promise of such cells for several applications.