Entanglement between collective fields via atomic coherence effects

We explore the quantum entanglement between two collective fields via atomic coherence effects. For three-level atoms in V configuration driven by two applied fields on two-photon resonance, one coherent superposition of the excited states is not excited, which is the counterpart of coherent population trapping. The coherence-induced depopulation makes two cavity fields in each collection combine into a quantum-beat, i.e., equivalently, the difference mode of the two components decouples from the driven atoms. The two sum modes, when they are arranged in the four-wave mixinglike interactions, can be prepared in Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entangled state. Correspondingly, any two individual fields from different collective modes are entangled with each other. Furthermore, the effects of thermal reservoir and laser linewidths are discussed, and a generalization is given to the case in which each quantum beat involves more than two modes. ©2010 The American Physical Society