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Physical Review A

Simultaneous propagation of short different-wavelength optical pulses

Marek J. Konopnicki, Joseph H. Eberly

Published Nov 1, 1981• 143 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The propagation of two short different-wavelength optical pulses in three-level absorbers is studied. Combined numerical and analytic techniques are used to solve the three-level Maxwell-Bloch equations that provide the semiclassical description of the problem. The electric field in the model studied consists of two copropagating plane waves, each of which is in near resonance with a transition in the absorber. A new conservation law, holding in the absence of relaxation mechanisms, and independent of particular values of fields and detunings, is given. It is an analog of the law expressing conservation of the Bloch vector length known for two-level atoms. The possibility of simultaneous lossless propagation of the two optical pulses is established. New analytic solutions having the form of simultaneous different-wavelength optical solitons have been found. These pairs of solitons are called simultons. In order for simulton propagation to occur, both the pulses and the medium have to be prepared in a manner determined by the medium's physical parameters. The conditions for such preparation are given. Simultons are predicted to be distinct from the single-wavelength multiple-pulse solutions resulting from large-area-pulse breakup known in two-level absorbers, as well as from two-photon self-induced transparency. Results of numerical experiments on different-wavelength simultaneous propagation are also presented and indicate that simultaneous propagation may also be obtained under less stringent conditions than those predicted by the analytic solutions. Evidence of pulse evolution and breakup is seen.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.24.2567

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The propagation of two short different-wavelength optical pulses in three-level absorbers is studied. Combined numerical and analytic techniques are used to solve the three-level Maxwell-Bloch equations that provide the semiclassical description of the problem. The electric field in the model studied consists of two copropagating plane waves, each of which is in near resonance with a transition in the absorber. A new conservation law, holding in the absence of relaxation mechanisms, and independent of particular values of fields and detunings, is given. It is an analog of the law expressing conservation of the Bloch vector length known for two-level atoms. The possibility of simultaneous lossless propagation of the two optical pulses is established. New analytic solutions having the form of simultaneous different-wavelength optical solitons have been found. These pairs of solitons are called simultons. In order for simulton propagation to occur, both the pulses and the medium have to be prepared in a manner determined by the medium's physical parameters. The conditions for such preparation are given. Simultons are predicted to be distinct from the single-wavelength multiple-pulse solutions resulting from large-area-pulse breakup known in two-level absorbers, as well as from two-photon self-induced transparency. Results of numerical experiments on different-wavelength simultaneous propagation are also presented and indicate that simultaneous propagation may also be obtained under less stringent conditions than those predicted by the analytic solutions. Evidence of pulse evolution and breakup is seen.
The coherent propagation of two optical short pulses through a resonant medium consisting of two three-level atoms in the configuration is investigated. A self-consisting analytical solution without steady state or adiabatic approximations is presented. The electric field in the model studied consists of two co-propagating plane waves, each of which is in near resonance with a transition in the absorber. The density matrix of two three level atoms is studied. Also, the reduced density matrices are stated. The present approach for the semiclassical treatment of resonant coherent interactions in three-level atoms represents a generalization of the Maxwell- Bloch equations for a two-level system. The Maxwell-Bloch equations reduced to the non-linear pendulum equation. The solution shows that the two pulses can propagate simultaneously without loss under some conditions about the pulses and the medium. The propagation of the two pulses through the medium without any constrains approves the self -induced transparency (SIT) phenomenon.
A study is made of steady-state ultrashort electromagnetic radiation pulses of two different wavelengths propagating at the same velocity in a three-level medium under exact resonance conditions. It is shown that such pulses (simultons) correspond to the soliton solutions of the corresponding generalized reduced Maxwell–Bloch equations which thus represent a new example of a system of evolution equations that can be solved exactly by the inverse scattering method. A full characterization of a simulton requires the knowledge of its duration and phase and also of a two-dimensional vector (called the internal polarization vector) with the components equal to the relative amplitudes of the pulses forming a simulton. Collision of two different simultons generally changes their polarizations. An expression is obtained for the angle of rotation of the polarization vectors as a function of the simulton amplitudes and their initial polarizations.
We report on computer-generated solutions to the coupled matter-field equations which provide the first evidence for distortionless optical pulse propagation in an absorbing medium of three-level atoms. The associated phenomenon represents the three-level equivalent of self-induced transparency in two-level atoms. Results have application to the propagation of short, coherent optical pulses in a medium in which the atoms have two distinct transition frequencies in near resonance with the pulse carrier frequency. We relate in particular to the case of pulse propagation in a magnetically perturbed sodium vapor where the pulse carrier frequency is tuned near the frequencies of the well-known sodium DDD lines. Here we obtain particular solutions corresponding to three and five peak pulses with "areas" of approximately $6\ensuremath{\pi}$ and $10\ensuremath{\pi}$, respectively. The solutions are strongly supported by a number of analytical results. In particular, simple algebraic relations are found which give the populations of the levels in terms of the field variables.
This paper is devoted to understanding the temporal synchronization of the two-color superfluorescence output powers. Following McCall and Feld et al., the monochromatic superfluorescence can be described in terms of a semi-classical propagational model that shares the same equations as Self-Induced Transparency (SIT). Thus it became important to understand double SIT that was discovered by McCall and Hahn (MH) to correctly interpret co-propagating beams with coherent exchange of energy and nonlinear phase evolution. A further motivation would be to elucidate pump and Stokes synchronization as well as pump depletion effect on Stokes buildup in Raman forward amplifier. In this work, we describe how the diffraction affects the longitudinal and transverse reshaping associated affects the simultaneous resonant propagation of two different-wavelength optical pulses in a three-level medium. The pulse lengths are shorter than any of the relaxation times, thus, the interaction is coherent. The material response has an inertial characteristic, which precludes its description with two instantaneous susceptibilities, and requires instead the density matrix formulism. A semi-classical formulism, as introduced by Konopnicki and Eberly (KE), is adopted in which two paraxial Maxwell field equations are closely intertwined in the generalized three-level Bloch equations.