Abstract

A theoretical analysis of the propagation of near resonant and linearly chirped light pulses through a resonant medium is presented under the restriction that the pulses are far enough off resonance or weak enough so that they do not significantly alter the atomic populations. If the pulses are of duration comparable to or less than the phase memory time T₂ of the atoms, it is found that the transient response of the medium gives rise to amplitude- and phase-modulating effects. Analytic solutions are presented to describe the propagation of an off-resonant pulse which is very short compared with T₂ and an off-resonant rectangular pulse. The evolution of a Gaussian pulse having a positive linear chirp is studied numerically.

© 1972 Optical Society of America

Higher Conservation Laws for Coherent Optical Pulse Propagation in an Inhomogeneously Broadened Medium

G. L. Lamb, M. O. Scully, and F. A. Hopf
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Effects of Pulsed Excitation on Level Crossing and Optical Double Resonance Line Shapes*

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Time-Domain Configuration of Certain Narrow Frequency-Bandwidth Pulses

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