Abstract

The so called Maxwell-Bloch equations of reference (I) have been extended in previous works [2] to include the effects of the recoil of the centre mass of the individual atoms constituting a two level atomic system in the presence of two counterpropagating pump and probe radiation fields. This is the Collective Atomic Recoil Laser (CARL) model. In particular it has been shown that for a sufficiently strong constant pump, the probe can be amplified (lasing) from a small signal. The amplification is due to the collective formation of an atomic density grating which reflects the pump field.

© 1998 IEEE