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Physical Review Letters

Self-Reflected Wave inside a Very Dense Saturable Absorber

L. Roso

Published Nov 11, 1985• 35 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The numerical solution of the Maxwell-Bloch equations describing the propagation of a plane monochromatic wave through a saturable absorber shows the appearance of a new kind of reflected wave generated inside the medium. This new phenomenon is described and its physical origin, related to the saturation-induced refractive index changes, is discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.55.2149

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The numerical solution of the Maxwell-Bloch equations describing the propagation of a plane monochromatic wave through a saturable absorber shows the appearance of a new kind of reflected wave generated inside the medium. This new phenomenon is described and its physical origin, related to the saturation-induced refractive index changes, is discussed.
The propagation of laser light a few wavelengths inside a saturable absorber is theoretically studied. Computed steady-state solutions of the Maxwell–Bloch equations that describe the unidimensional propagation of a plane monochromatic wave, without introducing the slowly varying envelope approximation, show how saturation effects can influence this propagation. This can even lead to the appearance of a self-reflected wave inside the absorber because of the refractive-index changes that are induced by nonlinear coupling. One finds a close relation between the failure of the slowly varying envelope approximation and the presence of the self-reflected wave.
Propagation of laser light through a saturable absorber is theoretically studied. Computed steady state solutions of the Maxwell equations describing the unidimensional propagation of a plane monochromatic wave without introducing the slowly-varying envelope approximation are presented showing how saturation effects can influence the absorption of the field. At a certain range of refractive index and extintion coefficients, computed solutions display a very susprising behaviour, and a self-reflected wave appears inside the absorber. This can be useful for a new kind of biestable device, similar to a standard bistable cavity but with the back mirror self-induced by the light.
The propagation of laser light through a thin absorbing film is theoretically studied. Computed steady-state solutions of the Maxwell-Bloch equations describing the unidimensional propagation of a plane monochromatic wave without introducing the slowly varying envelope approximation are presented that show how saturation effects can influence the absorption of the field. Those solutions indicate a new mechanism that can result in a bistable response of a thin absorbing film. This mechanism is closely related to the so-called self-induced reflectivity.
A comprehensive model of intense laser light propagation in a fully saturable medium is presented. This model employs the Maxwell-Bloch equations for a two-level atomic system. Light propagating through a medium creates intensity-dependent index of refraction gradients that reduce to a Kerr nonlinearity only for a weak field. When the laser detuning is positive, self-induced index gradients cause the beam to self-focus. Stationary filaments occur when self-focusing exactly balances diffraction. There exists a unique set of two-dimensional fundamental (and higher mode) solutions for which the filament transverse profile (not Gaussian in general) depends on the following quantities: density of saturable absorbers, laser detuning from resonance, laser power, and natural linewidth. (In contrast the Kerr solution does not have a unique filament diameter.) Emphasis will be placed on propagation of Gaussian incident beams; deviations from the stationary solution in either shape or power generally give rise to oscillating spatial patterns, including donutlike profiles, or beam breakup.