Slow light in paraffin-coated Rb vapour cells

Preliminary results from an experimental study of slow light in anti-relaxation-coated Rb vapour cells are presented, and the construction and testing of such cells are described. The slow ground state decoherence rate allowed by coated cell walls leads to a dual-structured electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectrum with a very narrow (< 100∈Hz) transparency peak on top of a broad pedestal. Such dual-structured EIT permits optical probe pulses to propagate with greatly reduced group velocity on two time scales. Ongoing efforts to optimize the pulse delay in such coated cell systems are discussed.