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)Medline RefWorks RT Journal T1 Chasing 'slow light' A1 Aleksandrov,E.B. A1 Zapasskii,V.S. PB Physics-Uspekhi PY 2006 FD 10 Oct, 2006 JF Physics-Uspekhi JO Phys. Usp. VO 49 IS 10 SP 1067-1075 DO 10.1070/PU2006v049n10ABEH006056 LK https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2006/10/e/ Оригинал: Александров Е Б, Запасский В С «В погоне за „медленным светом“» УФН 176 1093–1102 (2006); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.0176.200610f.1093