Stopped Light at High Storage Efficiency in a Pr3+:Y2SiO5 Crystal

We demonstrate efficient storage and retrieval of light pulses by electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a Pr3+:Y2SiO5 crystal. Using a ring-type multipass configuration, we increase the optical depth (OD) of the medium up to a factor of 16 towards OD approximate to 96. Combining the large optical depth with optimized conditions for EIT, we reach a light storage efficiency of (76.3 +/- 3.5)%. In addition, we perform extended systematic measurements of the storage efficiency versus optical depth, control Rabi frequency, and probe pulse duration. The data confirm the theoretically expected behavior of an EIT-driven solid-state memory.