Abstract

Propagation of small-area fs-pulses in a dispersive medium leads to strong coherent interactions between the driving field and the excited atoms if all the relaxation times of the medium are long compared to the pulse length. As a result the shape of the propagating pulse will be characteristically modified. The information about the interaction between the laser pulse and the medium can be obtained from the pulse shape after the passage through the medium. In the case of an atomic vapor the strength of the interaction depends on the number of absorption lines within the spectral width of the pulse. Strong interference effects occur if more than one absorption level overlaps with the spectral pulse width.

© 1996 IEEE