Self-induced transparency of an extremely short pulse

Adam Kujawski

Adam Kujawski, Joseph H. Eberly

N. V. Vysotina, Nikolai N Rozanov, Victor E. Semenov

The propagation of optical pulses in a waveguide containing atoms with resonant amplification and absorption has been analyzed. The possibility of amplification-based realization of a pulse compression regime similar to self-induced transparency has been demonstrated up to a duration comparable with the inverse frequency of the atomic transition (several femtoseconds) with a simultaneous increase in the peak amplitude.

L. Davidovich, Joseph H. Eberly

Ljubomir Matulic, Joseph H. Eberly

Rostislav M. Arkhipov, A. V. Pakhomov, Olga Diachkova +2 more

The coherent interaction of extremely short light pulses with a resonant medium can result in the formation of population difference gratings. Such gratings have been created by pulses that are π/2 or smaller. This paper demonstrates that a microcavity with Bragg-like mirrors can be formed by colliding two single-cycle attosecond self-induced transparency pulses in the center of a two-level medium. The parameters of this structure can be quickly adjusted by increasing the number of collisions, which showcases the ability to control the dynamic properties of the medium on a sub-cycle time scale by using attosecond pulses.