The phase compensation mechanism induced by anomalous dispersion in the reflection process of four-wave mixing (or reflection from a grating) in a three-level system is investigated, where the four wave vectors do not match in vacuum. An efficiency of the reflected signal of as high as 43% from a hot atomic cell of Cs is observed. The maximum reflection occurs when the frequency of the probe beam (and consequently the frequency of the reflected signal) is slightly red detuned from the transition frequency, which is attributed to the phase compensation from the steep anomalous dispersion accompanied with a strong probe absorption. The dependences of the efficiency on the angle between the coupling and probe lights, on the intensity of the coupling, field and on atomic density are studied. A theoretical model is presented and it is in good agreement with the experimental results.

• Received 6 October 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.83.053841