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Frontiers in Optics

Quantum Interference in Four-Wave Mixing with Incoherent Light

José Ferraz, D. Felinto, L. H. Acioli, S. S. Vianna

Published Jan 1, 2005• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We investigate a time-resolved four-wave mixing when a two-photon resonance is involved. By varying the relative polarization of the pulse pairs, we are able to select the quantum pathways and distinguish optical and quantum interferences.
DOI
10.1364/fio.2005.jwa73

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The interference between two different quantum-mechanical pathways for four-wave mixing in sodium vapor has been observed. The four-wave mixing was enhanced by two-photon resonance with the 5s state, for one pathway, and the 4d state, for the other. The phase of the interference could be varied continuously by varying laser frequencies, and constructive and destructive interference effects were studied. A model based on third-order perturbation theory gives a good description of the features observed.
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Diagrammatic perturbation theory and the spherical tensor formalism are used to model the signal observed in time-resolved, two-colour resonant four-wave mixing (TC-RFWM). An analysis using the Liouville formalism illustrates how TC-RFWM can be used to perform state-selective quantum beat spectroscopy in three-level systems by suitably designing three experimental features: the excitation scheme for the matter-field interaction, the time ordering of the laser pulses and the polarization of the incident laser beams. In contrast to traditional fluorescence quantum beat spectroscopy, time-resolved TC-RFWM results in a background-free, coherent signal that allows for high-resolution detection of the spectrally unresolved energy structure within a selected material state of the three-level system. The beats are shown to result from the quantum interference between different Liouville-space pathways in the laser-induced evolution of the material density operator and appear as a temporal modulation in the amplitude of the light beam emerging as the output of the mixing process. This type of control of a coherent optical field, based on the selective preparation of superposition states, is reminiscent of other recently developed optical techniques such as coherent population trapping and lasing without inversion.