Electromagnetically induced angular Talbot effect

The discrete angular spectrum (angular Talbot effect) of a periodic grating illuminated by a suitable spherical wave front has been observed recently (Azaña and Chatellus 2104 Phys. Rev. Lett. 112 213902). In this paper we study the possibility of such a phenomenon being realized with a medium that has no macroperiodic structure itself. Tunable electromagnetically induced grating (EIG) could be such a kind of medium. We obtain an EIG based on the periodically modulated strong susceptibility due to the third-order nonlinear effect generated in a double Λ-type four-level atomic system, and show the angular Talbot effect of an amplitude EIG, as well as a hybrid EIG, as the condition of the discrete phase-modulation shift of the illumination light front is satisfied. EIG parameters are tunable and the EIG-based angular Talbot effect may have the same potential applications as its periodic grating counterpart has. (paper)