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Physical review. B, Solid state

Exact Solution of a Case of Semiclassical Laser Equations

Stig Stenholm

Published Jan 1, 1970• 17 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This paper solves a special case of the equations for Lamb's semiclassical laser theory. The results are used to discuss the asymptotic behavior of the solution for large electromagnetic field and the power-series expansion in the field amplitude of the population inversion. A comparison with the continued-fraction method used earlier is made.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.1.15

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This paper solves a special case of the equations for Lamb's semiclassical laser theory. The results are used to discuss the asymptotic behavior of the solution for large electromagnetic field and the power-series expansion in the field amplitude of the population inversion. A comparison with the continued-fraction method used earlier is made.
The semiclassical interaction of a two-level system with a multimode electromagnetic field is discussed in detail. The equations of motion for the macroscopic density matrix are transformed into a single integral equation for the population density, with a complex kernel which can take into account both running- and standing-wave configurations. The iterative solution to this integral equation, which corresponds to an expansion in terms of powers of the electromagnetic field amplitudes, turns out to be divergent when the field amplitudes are greater than some critical value. In the case in which the kernel is a periodic or quasiperiodic function of time, a general solution to the integral equation is found, and this solution turns out to be unique and convergent for every value of the electromagnetic (e.m.) field amplitude. This solution is expressed through a continued-fraction expansion, whose terms are matrices, which can be readily obtained from the kernel. This solution is a generalization of the continued-fraction expansion usually met in the strong-signal semiclassical theory of lasers. Some particular cases are then treated in detail; among them, the solution to the multimode operation in laser devices is given in which the excited level lifetime is long compared with the period of the beating term between two adjacent modes. Although the theory presented is directed towards the steady-state regime in multimode lasers, it may also treat the transient regime of laser operations, or it may be extended to include phenomena where a strong e.m. field, made up of several modes equally spaced in frequency, interacts with a two-level system.
This paper extends the calculations of the semiclassical Lamb theory of a Doppler-broadened gas laser (optical maser) to arbitrary intensities for the case of single-mode operation. The coupled equations of the classical electromagnetic field and an ensemble of two-level atoms are set up, and a solution is obtained in the form of a continued fraction. This is used to compute intensity-detuning curves and atomic population inversion densities as functions of both the velocity and the position in the laser. When the laser is tuned to resonance, the velocity dependence of the inversion density shows a previously unknown fine structure consisting of a "bump" in the bottom of the hole. The calculations are compared to results obtained from a perturbation expansion in powers of the field and exact results known for atoms with zero velocity. The response of the laser output to a slow modulation and the buildup of oscillations are also discussed.
This paper presents a semiclassical theory of a single-mode gas laser valid for essentially arbitrary values of field intensity. The theory is formulated in terms of an ensemble-averaged form of the density-matrix equations of motion involving a single set of coordinates. The polarization and the population-inversion density are expanded in spatial Fourier components. One obtains a set of coupled difference equations in the Fourier coefficients yn{y}_{n}yn​, which may be solved subject to appropriate boundary conditions on yn{y}_{n}yn​ for large nnn. The solutions may be expressed in terms of continued fractions in the general case, and in closed form in important special cases. Quantities of interest are evaluated by computer. The steady-state laser intensity and frequency are obtained from the coupled electromagnetic field equations as functions of the cavity parameters and the linear gain of the amplifying medium. At moderate values of field intensity, the velocity distribution of the space-averaged population inversion density exhibits a fine structure for low-velocity atoms superimposed on the usual broader depletion. This structure is a manifestation of the coherent ringing of the amplifying medium. The results are compared with those obtained in the rate-equation approximation, and with the recent work of Stenholm and Lamb. Discrepancies with the latter paper are explained.
We derive semiclassical laser equations valid in all orders of nonlinearity. With the help of a diagrammatic representation, the perturbation series in powers of electric field can be resummed in terms of a certain class of diagrams. The resummation makes it possible to take into account a weak effect of population pulsations in a controlled way while treating the nonlinearity exactly. The proposed laser theory reproduces the all-order nonlinear equations in the approximation of constant population inversion and the third-order equations with population-pulsation terms as special cases. The theory can be applied to arbitrarily open and irregular lasers, such as random lasers.
A Lamb semiclassical theory is developed for multimode, mode-locked laser operation. The equality of frequency spacings between adjacent modes causes population pulsations generated in the nonlinear atomic response to be integer multiples of the adjacent-mode spacing. This allows the atomic response to be written in terms of Fourier series, thereby reducing coupled differential equations of motion to algebraic equations ultimately expressible in terms of a continued fraction. A unidirectional ring configuration is assumed so that the more complicated spatial dependence of standing waves is avoided. Reductions are made to the rateequation limit and to the special two-mode cases of bidirectional ring operation and single-mode, standing-wave, gas-laser operation. Numerical analysis of the equations is motivated. Specific results are given in the following (companion) paper.