A critical review of experimental studies on so-called ’slow light’ arising due to the anomalously high steepness of the refractive index dispersion under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency or coherent population oscillations is presented. It is shown that a considerable amount of experimental evidence of the observation of ’slow light’ is not related to the low group velocity of light and can be easily interpreted in terms of a standard model of interaction of light with a saturable absorber.

PACS: 42.25.Bs, 42.50.Gy, 42.50.Md (all) DOI: 10.1070/PU2006v049n10ABEH006056 URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2006/10/e/ 000244185100005 2-s2.0-33847038379 2006PhyU...49.1067A Citation: Aleksandrov E B, Zapasskii V S "Chasing 'slow light'" Phys. Usp. 49 1067–1075 (2006) BibTexBibNote ® (generic)BibNote ® (RIS)MedlineRefWorks Оригинал: Александров Е Б, Запасский В С «В погоне за „медленным светом“» УФН 176 1093–1102 (2006); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.0176.200610f.1093