Abstract

The response of a two-level atom interacting with a 100% amplitude modulated field is known.¹ In this work we investigate the stability of this stationary state solution to the growth of probe fields. Specifically we consider the gain of a 100% AM probe field, both in phase and in quadrature to the strong field, at the one-third subharmonic of the strong AM field. This case is of particular interest because the beat frequencies generated by all the field components with the nearest other field component are degenerate. We use Floquet's theorem in solving for the stationary-state response of the atoms. The solution is obtained using matrix-continued fractions. The effects of strong AM field intensity and of relative damping times on the gain and dispersion of the probe fields are presented.

© 1987 Optical Society of America