We report an experimental observation of the enhancement of nondegenerate four-wave mixing (NDFWM) based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a lambda-type three-level system of rubidium atoms. We measured both the linear susceptibility Im ${\chi }_D^{(1)}$ (absorption) and the third-order nonlinear coefficient ${\chi }_D^{(3)}$ separately for the NDFWM process at a low atomic density. We found that, owing to the EIT effect, the linear absorption term Im ${\chi }_D^{(1)}$ is greatly reduced, while the nonlinear generation term ${\chi }_D^{(3)}$ is resonantly enhanced, permitting us to observe a significant enhancement of the NDFWM signal in an optically dense medium.

© 1996 Optical Society of America

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