  We report on the delay of optical pulses using electromagnetically induced
transparency in an ensemble of cold atoms with an optical depth exceeding 500.
To identify the regimes in which four-wave mixing impacts on EIT behaviour, we
conduct the experiment in both rubidium 85 and rubidium 87. Comparison with
theory shows excellent agreement in both isotopes. In rubidium 87, negligible
four-wave mixing was observed and we obtained one pulse-width of delay with 50%
efficiency. In rubidium 85, four-wave-mixing contributes to the output. In this
regime we achieve a delay-bandwidth product of 3.7 at 50% efficiency, allowing
temporally multimode delay, which we demonstrate by compressing two pulses into
the memory medium.
