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Physical Review Letters

High Intensity Pulse Propagation in the Extreme Sharp-Line Limit

M. Matusovsky, Boris Vaynberg, M. Rosenbluh

Published Dec 23, 1996• 12 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We observe the propagation and reshaping of intense pulses, with a pulse area greater than $\ensuremath{\pi}$, through a highly absorbing medium. Depending on pulse and absorber parameters, both pulse breakup and undistorted pulse propagation are observed. Using a theoretical description of pulse propagation in the sharp-line limit and a multilevel system possessing unequal transition dipole moments, we demonstrate good agreement with the observations.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.77.5198

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We observe the propagation and reshaping of intense pulses, with a pulse area greater than \ensuremathπ\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremathπ, through a highly absorbing medium. Depending on pulse and absorber parameters, both pulse breakup and undistorted pulse propagation are observed. Using a theoretical description of pulse propagation in the sharp-line limit and a multilevel system possessing unequal transition dipole moments, we demonstrate good agreement with the observations.
We observe the propagation and the reshaping of low-intensity (zero area) 60-fs pulses through high-density atomic Cs vapor. The breakup of the pulses is measured both for resonant excitation of the Cs atoms and for laser detunings such that the atomic resonance frequency is in the wings of the pulse spectrum. The theory of 0π pulse propagation in the extreme sharp-line limit is extended to include both resonant and off-resonant excitation. Good agreement is demonstrated between the observations and the theoretical predictions.
We observe the propagation and the reshaping of low intensity (zero area) 60 fs pulses through high density atomic Cs vapor. The breakup of the pulses is measured for both resonant excitation of the Cs atoms and for laser detunings such that the atomic resonance frequency is in the wings of the pulse spectrum. The theory of 0π pulse propagation, in the extreme sharp-line limit, is extended to include both resonant and off resonant excitation. Good agreement is demonstrated between the observations and the theoretical predictions.
We investigate the areas of extremely short, intense (area ⩾π) resonant optical pulses on propagation through an inhomogeneously broadened atomic medium. Experimentally, there is no apparent change in the shape of such pulses on propagation, in contradiction to the area theorem. Here we show that, although the main part of the pulse is unchanged for short propagation distances (αl∼1), it is followed by a long weak tail formed by free induction decay from the excited atoms. The tail lengthens and oscillates on propagation through the medium and permits the area theorem to be obeyed. These oscillations, which depend critically on the Doppler broadening, are reflected in the spectral analysis of the propagated pulse. We also introduce another mechanism for pulse reshaping, which is a generalization of the McCall–Hahn pulse breakup and operates at long propagation lengths (αl≫1), where the number of absorbing atoms encountered by the pulse is comparable with the number of photons in the pulse.
Coherent propagation of intense short laser pulses through degenerate absorbing media is investigated with the use of an atomic-iodine laser-absorber self-resonant combination. Four degenerate systems, the $^{2}P_{\frac{1}{2}}\ensuremath{-}^{2}P_{\frac{3}{2}}$, $F=3\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}{F}^{\ensuremath{'}}=4$, $\ensuremath{\Delta}{M}_{F}=0,\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1$ and $F=2\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}{F}^{\ensuremath{'}}=2$, $\ensuremath{\Delta}{M}_{F}=0,\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1$ transitions, are studied under various conditions. Theoretical analysis based on the "pulse-area---pulse-energy" approach shows different pulse propagation behaviors for three typical types of degeneracy. Experimental results give good agreement with theoretical predictions. It is concluded that self-induced transparency exists in any degenerate two-level system, provided that suitable polarization of radiation is used. The usefulness of self-induced-transparency phenomena for measurements of transitional dipole moment and homogeneous relaxation time is also demonstrated.