Vacuum-induced dressing movement of the multi-wave mixing in a composite atom–cavity system

•Strong linear movement is observed in accordance with the two-photon condition.•Slight movement is explained by using doubly dressing theory.•The vacuum-induced moving rule of FWM and SWM is obtained.

We report experimental studies on the vacuum-induced dressing movement of multi-wave mixing in a composite atom–cavity system. Strong linear movement is observed in accordance with the two-photon condition, while slight movement is explained by using doubly dressing theory. On the other hand, we deduce the vacuum-induced moving rule of FWM and SWM, which gives a proper explanation of the phenomena at two cases for scanning cavity detuning and dressing-field detuning, respectively. This investigation may find applications in all-optical switching and optical communication.