Double electromagnetically-induced transparency in rubidium vapor

We report demonstration of double electromagnetically-induced transparency in a hot rubidium-87 vapor: two transparency windows appear simultaneously on | 5S_{1/2},F=1> to | 5P_{1/2},F=2> and |5S_{1/2},F=2> to |5P_{1/2},F=2> when a single control field is applied. We have been able to simultaneously slow down two optical pulses resonant with these transitions. By switching the control field, we have demonstrated simultaneous storage of these pulses. This scheme can be applied to achieve optical nonlinearities in the pulsed regime at light levels as low as a few photons per atomic cross section.