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arXiv:1305.4015 · Physical Review A

Nonlinear propagation of polarized light pulses in a medium of atoms with degenerate energy levels: Adiabatic approach

Valeriy I. Yudin, M. Yu. Basalaev, Denis V. Brazhnikov, А. В. Тайченачев

Published Aug 30, 2013• 11 citations
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Abstract

We develop a general method allowing one to construct the consistent theory of light pulse propagation through an atomic medium in arbitrary nonlinear regime with respect to the field strength, taking into account the light polarization, temporal (frequency), and spatial dispersions. The method is based on the reduced Maxwell equation, atomic density matrix formalism, and adiabatic approximation. In order to demonstrate the efficiency of our method we investigate in detail the case of propagation of the pulses under conditions of coherent population trapping in a medium of two-level atoms with degenerate energy levels. Equations describing the evolution of various field parameters are derived. It is shown that pulses of ellipticity and spatial orientation of polarization ellipse propagate with slowing. Analytical expressions for the slowing factor are obtained. Previously unknown effects of the stimulated phase modulation and the generation of a phase pilot pulse by the variation of spatial orientation of the polarization ellipse are predicted.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.88.023862

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Physical Review A•Oct 1, 1996•9 citations
We develop a general method allowing one to construct the consistent theory of light pulse propagation through an atomic medium in arbitrary nonlinear regime with respect to the field strength, taking into account the light polarization, temporal (frequency), and spatial dispersions. The method is based on the reduced Maxwell equation, atomic density matrix formalism, and adiabatic approximation. In order to demonstrate the efficiency of our method we investigate in detail the case of propagation of the pulses under conditions of coherent population trapping in a medium of two-level atoms with degenerate energy levels. Equations describing the evolution of various field parameters are derived. It is shown that pulses of ellipticity and spatial orientation of polarization ellipse propagate with slowing. Analytical expressions for the slowing factor are obtained. Previously unknown effects of the stimulated phase modulation and the generation of a phase pilot pulse by the variation of spatial orientation of the polarization ellipse are predicted.
Propagation of elliptically polarized light pulses in a medium of two-level atoms with degenerate energy levels under coherent population trapping has been studied within the density-matrix formalism and reduced Maxwell’s equation. It has been shown that ellipticity pulses and the orientation angle of the polarization ellipse move with a deceleration. The analytical expression for the group velocity of an arbitrary J → J dark transition ( J is an integer) has been derived. In addition, a previously unknown effect of forced phase modulation under the variation of the spatial orientation of the polarization ellipse has been discovered. This phase modulation includes a pilot pulse passing through the medium at the speed of light in vacuum and a slow pulse moving synchronously with the pulse of the orientation angle.
The problem of a light pulse propagating in a nonlinear laser medium is investigated. The electromagnetic field is treated classically and the active medium consists of thermally moving atoms which have two electronic states with independent decay constants ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{a}$ and ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{b}$ in addition to the decay constant ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{\mathrm{ab}}$ describing the phase memory. The self-consistency requirement that the field sustained by the polarized medium be equal to the field inducing the polarization leads to coupled equations of motion for the density matrix, and equations of propagation for the electromagnetic field. Although the theory is developed for a Doppler-broadened gaseous medium, it may also be applied to a solid medium with inhomogeneous broadening. A unified treatment is given encompassing a wide range of pulse durations from cw signals to psec pulses. Continuous pumping is allowed, as well as any amount of detuning of the carrier frequency of the pulse from the atomic resonance frequency. The three independent decay constants ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{a}$, ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{b}$, and ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{\mathrm{ab}}$ provide greater flexibility than that obtained by using 1T1\frac{1}{{T}_{1}}T1​1​ and 1T2\frac{1}{{T}_{2}}T2​1​. The equations are solved analytically in a few specialized cases and numerically in the general case. Flow charts for accomplishing the numerical integration are given. Among the special problems considered is the apparent paradox of pulses propagating faster than the velocity of light under circumstances described by Basov et al. It is shown that this contradiction with relativity arises from the use of an unphysical initial condition.
This thesis deals with the study of propagation effects experienced by weak light pulses as they propagate in atomic media driven by strong pulses. We explore both the ultra-short and long pulse regime and investigate the phenomena that arise at these different time scales. In the short pulse regime, a strongly driven two level atomic system presents transient light shifts, and non-adiabatic transitions occur between these adiabatic levels. We have studied a method to probe these light shifts in real time by propagating a weak probe through the medium. The light shifts enrich the spectrum of the probe and the probe gets shaped as a result. In this way a strongly driven two-level system can act as an active pulse shaper, and can introduce oscillations in the temporal profile of an ultra-short pulse at a time scale shorter than the pulse duration. We also show that by driving the system with two time delayed non-resonant strong fields, the non-adiabatic effects can be rendered phase dependent. This gives very sensitive phase control of the excited state population and can be used to formulate new techniques in interferometry. In the long pulse regime we present a new method of slowing light that can be realized in a double two-level system interacting with two orthogonally polarized light pulses that propagate along different axis. Spatio-temporal dependence of the total polarization induces a grating in the ground Zeeman coherence. The stronger of the two fields (the control field) is diffracted from this grating into the direction of the weak probe field compensating for the absorption of this latter field. A transparency window is thus created in the absorption spectrum of the probe leading to the slowing down of light. The transparency window exhibits characteristics similar to the one obtained by EIT (electromagnetic induced transparency) method. However, the important difference between our method and the traditional EIT method, is that ours doesn't rely on realizing dark state in the system. This may open the possibility of slowing down light in more complex atomic media. Moreover, when the linear absorptive response of the medium is cancelled in this manner, the nonlinear response becomes more important. In the situation where fields propagate in the same direction and have same frequency, two regimes have been investigated. For small optical depths, the effective susceptibility behaves as chi_lin exp[2 i phi] (with phi the phase difference between two fields). This renders phase control of the medium response, and the medium can be changed from an absorber to an amplifier, with normal or anomalous dispersion, by adjusting the relative phase phi.  In the regime of large optical thickness, phase saturation takes place and the effective susceptibility turns into chi_lin*, changing an absorber into an amplifier without effecting the dispersive response (chi_lin is linear susceptibility).
We study the dynamics of the phase pulses of laser radiation with two resonant frequency components propagating in an atomic three-level Λ type medium under coherent population trapping. Using the density matrix adiabatic approach we show that the effect of a very large slowing down occurs not only for amplitude pulses, but also for phase pulses. The group velocity of phase pulses can be controlled by the amplitudes of resonant fields. The analytical solution describing the mutual influence of the phase modulation of one field component on another is obtained.
The general nonstationary theory of propagation of an elliptically polarized pulse resonantly interacting with the 1/2–1/2 transition is presented. The theory that takes into account relaxation processes is developed in terms of irreducible tensor operator representation allowing diagonalization of the relaxation matrix and introduction of effective decay times governing relaxation of both population and coherence between magnetic sublevels of the resonant system. It is shown that interference of magnetic sublevels in the field of polarized radiation that optically pumps the atoms can result in inversionless amplification of radiation.
We present an analytical theory of propagation of electromagnetic pulses through a Doppler-broadened medium in the adiabatic population transfer regime. We show that thermal motion of atoms causes a strong asymmetric distortion of the pulse shape. Two different kinds of pulse distortions are found to be relevant for cases of (a) nondegenerate and (b) degenerate atomic states between which the population is transferred adiabatically. In case (a) the forward front of the nonlinear electromagnetic wave becomes steeper; otherwise, in case (b) a trailing front sharpening takes place. To increase the effect in the degenerate atomic level configuration to an experimentally significant value, the ratio of the Doppler profile width to the Rabi frequency must be much higher than in case (a). \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.