Abstract
We propose a scheme to generate three coupled ultraslow optical solitons in a five-level tripod atomic system. We show that the detrimental distortions of the three weak probe fields due to dispersion effects under weak driving conditions can be well balanced by self- and cross-phase-modulation effects, which leads to the three coupled ultraslow temporal optical solitons with the temporal, group velocity, and amplitude values nearly matched. In contrast to other schemes, our model uses optical fibers, including multichromatic optical solitons in the stimulated Raman scattering, and produces three coupled ultraslow optical solitons in a small propagation distance of less than 1 cm with 12 Rabi frequency of the driving field, typically less than 100 MHz. © 2010 The American Physical Society.