Abstract
Propagation of small area femtosecond pulses in a dispersive medium leads to strong coherent interactions between the driving field and the excited atoms if the relaxation times of the medium are long compared with 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 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, the interaction length, the vapor density, and the oscillator strengths. Strong interference effects can be observed if more than one absorption level overlaps with the spectral pulse width.
© 1996 Optical Society of America
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