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Physical Review A

Perturbation theory in self-induced transparency for short pulses

Zofia Białynicka-Birula

Published Sep 1, 1974• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A systematic perturbation expansion with respect to the small parameter ${(\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\omega})}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, $\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\tau}$ being the duration of the pulse and $\ensuremath{\omega}$ the optical frequency, is introduced. This method is applied to the problem of self-induced transparency for sharp-line absorbers at exact resonance. Corrections to the McCall and Hahn solution are obtained which describe the propagation of the form-preserving pulse with modulated frequency and slightly changed shape, group velocity, and wave vector. Earlier results by Marth, Holmes, and Eberly on phase modulation and wave-vector shift are confirmed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.10.999

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Very short optical pulses: A new approximation method

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A more accurate description of the 2 pi pulse of self-induced transparency is obtained. This is an exact solution of an approximate form of the Maxwell-Bloch equations in which only backscattering is neglected; the equations are valid at densities less than about 10 18 atoms cm -3 . At such densities the 2 pi sech pulse of McCall and Hahn (1967, 1969) remains a good approximate well into the picosecond range. The more accurate solution is chirped by a factor proportional to the square of the ratio of the spectral width of the pulse to its carrier wave frequency. The stability of this pulse solution and other N soliton solutions of the approximate Maxwell-Bloch equations is demonstrated.

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Self-Induced Transparency

S. L. McCall, Erwin Louis Hahn

Above a critical power threshold for a given pulse width, a short pulse of coherent traveling-wave optical radiation is observed to propagate with anomalously low energy loss while at resonance with a two-quantum-level system of absorbers. The line shape of the resonant system is determined by inhomogeneous broadening, and the pulse width is short compared to dissipative relaxation times. A new mechanism of self-induced transparency, which accounts for the low energy loss, is analyzed in the ideal limit of a plane wave which excites a resonant medium with no damping present. The stable condition of transparency results after the traversal of the pulse through a few classical absorption lengths into the medium. This condition exists when the initial pulse has evolved into a symmetric hyperbolic-secant pulse function of time and distance, and has the area characteristic of a "$2\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulse." Ideal transparency then persists when coherent induced absorption of pulse energy during the first half of the pulse is followed by coherent induced emission of the same amount of energy back into the beam direction during the second half of the pulse. The effects of dissipative relaxation times upon pulse energy, pulse area, and pulse delay time are analyzed to first order in the ratio of short pulse width to long damping time. The analysis shows that the $2\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulse condition can be maintained if losses caused by damping are compensated by beam focusing. In an amplifying inhomogeneously broadened medium an analytic "$\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulse area" solution is presented in the limit of a sharp leading edge of the pulse. The dynamics of self-induced transparency are studied for the particular effects of Doppler velocities upon a resonant gas. The analysis of transparency for random orientations of dipole moments associated with degenerate rotational states yields modified forms of self-induced transparency behavior, which indicates a finite pulse energy loss as a function of distance in some cases. The effect of self-induced transparency on the photon echo is considered. Experimental observations of self-induced transparency have been made in a ruby sample at resonance with a pulsed ruby-laser beam. Single and multiple $2\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulse outputs have been observed, and pulse areas measured in the range of $2\ensuremath{\pi}$. The experimental results are compared with the predictions of the ideal-plane-wave theory. Deviations from the ideal-plane-wave theory are discussed. An analysis is made of the effect of a transverse mode of the propagating beam upon the transparency properties of the pulse.

Physical Review•Jul 10, 1969•1,394 citations
A systematic perturbation expansion with respect to the small parameter (\ensuremathΔ\ensuremathτ\ensuremathω)\ensuremath−1{(\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\omega})}^{\ensuremath{-}1}(\ensuremathΔ\ensuremathτ\ensuremathω)\ensuremath−1, \ensuremathΔ\ensuremathτ\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremathΔ\ensuremathτ being the duration of the pulse and \ensuremathω\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremathω the optical frequency, is introduced. This method is applied to the problem of self-induced transparency for sharp-line absorbers at exact resonance. Corrections to the McCall and Hahn solution are obtained which describe the propagation of the form-preserving pulse with modulated frequency and slightly changed shape, group velocity, and wave vector. Earlier results by Marth, Holmes, and Eberly on phase modulation and wave-vector shift are confirmed.
Very short optical pulses, traveling in sharp-line resonant absorbers without change of shape, are investigated with a new approximation technique. Instead of employing the long-pulse or slowly varying envelope assumption, we have developed a method of approximation based on a series expansion in powers of a small parameter which is related to the electric field strength. The principal advantages of the method are its ability to treat very short pulses, and the simplicity with which it can be extended, both from lower to higher levels of approximation, and from one type of steady-state pulse to another. In this paper we use the approximation method to study very short pulses which require retention of the second-derivative terms in the Maxwell envelope and phase equations. Corrections to the well-known McCall-Hahn results are easily found to first order in the small parameter. As expected, the corrections begin to be important only for picosecond and shorter pulses.
Resonant absorbing media having many atoms within a cubic resonance wavelength can exhibit large frequency chirps in pulse propagation due to dipole-dipole interactions among the atoms. Analytic solutions are obtained for invariant pulse propagation in such a medium consisting of interacting two-level atoms. Departures from the McCall-Hahn results include nonhyperbolic secant pulse shapes and different than 2π-area pulses. In addition, the excitation of the medium is comparatively suppressed for the same group velocity. The results are interpreted to suggest new experiments.
The results of theoretical research of the propagation effect of an ultrashort optical pulse under the conditions of coherent interaction with two resonant transitions are presented. One of the transitions is tuned to exact resonance with the pulse carrier frequency; the other is distanced by much more than the pulse spectral width, thus the adiabatic following approximation may be applied to it. The interaction between the pulse and the far-from-resonance transition is described by the wave equation with the nonlinear index of refraction in the form of the Lorentz function of the field amplitude. This wave equation is solved together with the Bloch equations for the exact resonant transition. The solution in the form of the stationary phase-modulated pulse is obtained, and (pi) -pulse of self-induced transparency is the special case of this solution. The obtained solution has the area under the pulse envelope less than (pi) , and with increasing the absorption coefficient of the far-from-resonance transition the pulse area decreases. The effect can be used for reducing the transparency threshold of the resonant medium below (pi) .
A more accurate description of the 2 pi pulse of self-induced transparency is obtained. This is an exact solution of an approximate form of the Maxwell-Bloch equations in which only backscattering is neglected; the equations are valid at densities less than about 10 18 atoms cm -3 . At such densities the 2 pi sech pulse of McCall and Hahn (1967, 1969) remains a good approximate well into the picosecond range. The more accurate solution is chirped by a factor proportional to the square of the ratio of the spectral width of the pulse to its carrier wave frequency. The stability of this pulse solution and other N soliton solutions of the approximate Maxwell-Bloch equations is demonstrated.
Above a critical power threshold for a given pulse width, a short pulse of coherent traveling-wave optical radiation is observed to propagate with anomalously low energy loss while at resonance with a two-quantum-level system of absorbers. The line shape of the resonant system is determined by inhomogeneous broadening, and the pulse width is short compared to dissipative relaxation times. A new mechanism of self-induced transparency, which accounts for the low energy loss, is analyzed in the ideal limit of a plane wave which excites a resonant medium with no damping present. The stable condition of transparency results after the traversal of the pulse through a few classical absorption lengths into the medium. This condition exists when the initial pulse has evolved into a symmetric hyperbolic-secant pulse function of time and distance, and has the area characteristic of a "$2\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulse." Ideal transparency then persists when coherent induced absorption of pulse energy during the first half of the pulse is followed by coherent induced emission of the same amount of energy back into the beam direction during the second half of the pulse. The effects of dissipative relaxation times upon pulse energy, pulse area, and pulse delay time are analyzed to first order in the ratio of short pulse width to long damping time. The analysis shows that the $2\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulse condition can be maintained if losses caused by damping are compensated by beam focusing. In an amplifying inhomogeneously broadened medium an analytic "$\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulse area" solution is presented in the limit of a sharp leading edge of the pulse. The dynamics of self-induced transparency are studied for the particular effects of Doppler velocities upon a resonant gas. The analysis of transparency for random orientations of dipole moments associated with degenerate rotational states yields modified forms of self-induced transparency behavior, which indicates a finite pulse energy loss as a function of distance in some cases. The effect of self-induced transparency on the photon echo is considered. Experimental observations of self-induced transparency have been made in a ruby sample at resonance with a pulsed ruby-laser beam. Single and multiple $2\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulse outputs have been observed, and pulse areas measured in the range of $2\ensuremath{\pi}$. The experimental results are compared with the predictions of the ideal-plane-wave theory. Deviations from the ideal-plane-wave theory are discussed. An analysis is made of the effect of a transverse mode of the propagating beam upon the transparency properties of the pulse.