We study theoretically the polarization dynamics of a new type of quantum oscillator that is based on the two-photon stimulated emission process in the presence of a magnetic field of arbitrary orientation. Both cases of cascade (small intermediate-state atomic detuning) and two-photon (large atomic detuning) lasers are considered. The primary goal of this work is to investigate the origin of recently observed polarization instabilities in a two-photon laser (Pfister et al 2001 Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 4512) using a highly simplified model. It is found that the two-photon laser can emit linearly polarized radiation with its plane of polarization orthogonal to the direction of the magnetic field at small magnetic field strengths. It can also emit elliptically polarized radiation over a large range of magnetic field strengths and orientations. When the magnetic field deviates from a direction perpendicular to the laser cavity axis periodic instabilities can appear through a Hopf bifurcation. This dynamic regime could have contributed to the polarization instabilities observed in the experiment.
We describe the operating characteristics of a new type of quantum oscillator that is based on a two-photon stimulated emission process. This two-photon laser consists of spin-polarized and laser-driven 39K atoms placed in a high-finesse transverse-mode-degenerate optical resonator and produces a beam with a power of approximately 0.2 microW at a wavelength of 770 nm. We observe complex dynamical instabilities of the state of polarization of the two-photon laser, which are made possible by the atomic Zeeman degeneracy. We conjecture that the laser could emit polarization-entangled twin beams if this degeneracy is lifted.
Our recent analysis [J. Phys. B 33, R141 (2000)] of the problem of ${\mathrm{H}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ in both laser and strong static electric fields, which treated effects that are linear in the laser intensity I (e.g., the dynamic polarizability and the single-photon detachment cross section), is extended here to treat effects of higher order $(\ensuremath{\sim}{I}^{2})$ in the laser intensity (e.g., the dynamic hyperpolarizability, the two-photon detachment cross section, the linear in I corrections to the single-photon detachment rate, etc). We introduce the concept of the dynamic hyperpolarizability of an atom in the presence of a strong electric field based on the complex quasienergy approach with properly normalized, quasistationary quasienergy wave functions. Our analysis of the general structure of the dynamic hyperpolarizability tensor of an atom in a nondegenerate
(S-) state is performed for arbitrary field geometries and laser polarizations. The connection of the hyperpolarizability $\ensuremath{\gamma}(\mathcal{F};\ensuremath{\omega})$ to the complex quasienergy and to atomic ionization rates is established. Analytic results (in terms of Airy functions) are obtained for five irreducible components of a hyperpolarizability tensor (that are independent of the laser polarization and the field geometry) for the case of a weakly bound electron in a three-dimensional, zero-range potential. These results are used for the analysis of the frequency, field geometry, and laser polarization dependence of the two-photon detachment rate as well as of the linear in laser intensity corrections to the single-photon detachment rate. It is shown that the oscillatory behavior of the frequency dependence of both the real and the imaginary parts of $\ensuremath{\gamma}(\mathcal{F};\ensuremath{\omega})$ exists for both the coplanar and orthogonal field geometries, and that this behavior is qualitatively different for frequencies below and above the single-photon detachment threshold. The threshold behavior of the two-photon detachment rate is analyzed in detail and the static electric-field-induced modification of Wigner's threshold law for a short-range potential is discussed.