Research on laser theory

Pierre Meystre, Murray Sargent

Stig Stenholm

This book describes the use of lasers in spectroscopy, the phenomenon of optical bistability, the need for a quantum theory of light, and includes a discussion of how lasers may be used to test the basic formulation of quantum mechanics. Each review is designed to be comprehensible to non-specialists in the field, yet detailed enough to provide a useful background to the prospective specialist.

Ong D

Optically pumped FIR lasers give only discrete spectrums. This property restricts the practical use of lasers. Since 1977, many research works have been done to tune the output frequency of FIR laser, of which some are tried to find the possibility of tuning the laser lines by changing the pumping frequency continuously. But it is not easy to get an accurate result due to the complexity of theoretical calculation especially for quantum system of more than three energy levels. In this research work, two photon processes in four levels system have been studied by means of graph theory, which was developed by T. A. DeTemple et al. It was found that the output frequency of optically pumped FIR laser could be tuned with a frequency range equal to the frequency difference of two FIR transition frequencies. The tuning curves of FIR frequency and the curves of system gain coefficient vs. pump detuning frequencies were given.

Pierre Meystre, Murray Sargent

Pierre Meystre, Murray Sargent

Daniel S. Elliott

Abstract : In this research program, the investigators have explored the role of fluctuations of a laser field on coherent interactions between the laser field and simple atomic systems. A key feature of these experiments is their ability to provide measurements of complex nonlinear optical interactions which are sufficient for direct, quantitative comparison with theory. The main thrust of the present work has been the study of non-Markovian field statistics, present in experiments that use multiple, time-delayed input beams to drive the nonlinear system. The specific interaction studied was Phase-Conjugate Four-Wave Mixing in an optically-pumped beam of atomic sodium, which the researchers measured as a function of laser bandwidth, Rabi frequency, and delay time between the pump and probe beams. The investigators have also calculated the expected signal strength through numerical integration of the Optical Bloch Equations. Experimental and numerical results are in very good agreement. The investigators also studied theoretically two-photon absorption with correlated, time-delayed input fields, and provided the first experimental confirmation of the fundamental theory of Phase-Conjugate Four-Wave Mixing with monochromatic fields in a simple atomic system.