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Soviet Physics Uspekhi

Quasiresonant nonlinear optical processes involving excited and ionized atoms

S. M. Gladkov, Nikolai I Koroteev

Published Jul 31, 1990• 38 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This review examines the nonlinear optical properties of highly excited and ionized gaseous media and low-temperature plasmas. The authors concentrate particularly on the role of excited atomic and ionized states, as well as continuum states. The authors cite and discuss experimental results of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering and optical harmonic generation in media consisting of excited atoms and ions. Nonlinear optical experiments involving the continuum states in intense optical fields are examined. In this connection the authors also discuss above-threshold ionization and the multiphoton stripping of atoms.

DOI
10.1070/pu1990v033n07abeh002608

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This review examines the nonlinear optical properties of highly excited and ionized gaseous media and low-temperature plasmas. The authors concentrate particularly on the role of excited atomic and ionized states, as well as continuum states. The authors cite and discuss experimental results of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering and optical harmonic generation in media consisting of excited atoms and ions. Nonlinear optical experiments involving the continuum states in intense optical fields are examined. In this connection the authors also discuss above-threshold ionization and the multiphoton stripping of atoms.
A review of the main directions of development, the most promising new techniques, and urgent applications of coherent four-photon methods of investigation of excited and ionized gas media is presented. It is demonstrated that the methods of coherent four-wave mixing (FWM) provide important spectrochronographic information on atoms and ions, allow selective studies of separate components of nonstationary gas and plasma systems with a complex composition using polarization-sensitive four-photon spectroscopy and coherent ellipsometry, and permit nonlinear-optical imaging of the spatial distribution of atoms and ions in excited gases and plasmas.
Some typical resonance nonlinear-optics phenomena taking place when light interacts with atoms are considered. The multitude of such phenomena reduces to scattering of the perturbing light, perturbation of the atomic spectrum, excitation of an atom and its ionization. In all these cases the investigations are carried out using the simplest model—an isolated atom in a monochromatic external field. Such a model enables one to give an exact description of many elementary processes. On the other hand it is sufficiently realistic. A detailed investigation is carried out of resonance fluorescence, spontaneous Raman scattering, multiphoton excitation of atoms, resonance shifts and splitting of atomic levels and resonance lonication of atoms. The nature of these processes is investigated as a function of the intensity of the external field, its frequency, a specific atomic spectrum, the nature of polarization of the perturbing field, and the degree of its nonlinearity. The role played by the field of the electromagnetic vacuum is analyzed. Theoretical predictions are compared with the results of many experiments describing resonance processes of the interaction of an intense light field with atoms.
Abstract : Studies of multiphoton ionization of atoms have revealed several unexpected characteristics. The confluence of the experimental evidence leads to the hypothesis that the basic character of the atomic response involves highly organized, coherent motions of entire atomic shells. The important regime, for which the radiative field strength E is greater than an atomic unit, can be viewed in approximate correspondence with the physics of fast atom-atom scattering. This physical picture provides a basis for the expectation that stimulation emission in the x-ray range can be produced by direct highly nonlinear coupling of ultraviolet radiation to atoms. Keywords: Ions, Multiphoton, Photons.
The review is devoted to new effects discovered recently in the course of studying the process of nonlinear ionization of atoms in the field of laser radiation—above-threshold ionization, manifestation of multielectron structure of complex atoms, formation of multiply charged ions, tunneling ionization, and emission of short-wavelength radiation. The main experimental data and their theoretical interpretation are presented. A discussion is given of the criteria for the applicability of the lowest non-vanishing order of non-steady-state perturbation theory to the description of the interaction of an atom with the electromagnetic field.
We theoretically study intensity-saturation effects in resonant harmonic generation and multiphoton ionization. A first laser excites a two-photon resonance which is coupled by a second laser to an autoionizing state. Starting from an effective Hamiltonian for the three resonant atomic states, we derive a set of equations for the density matrix of the gaseous medium and the electromagnetic field within a semiclassical framework. We present and discuss analytical and numerical solutions of these equations which show a variety of line profiles depending critically on the intensities of the incident laser pulses.
Coherent preparation by laser light of quantum states of atoms and molecules can lead to quantum interference in the amplitudes of optical transitions. In this way the optical properties of a medium can be dramatically modified, leading to electromagnetically induced transparency and related effects, which have placed gas-phase systems at the center of recent advances in the development of media with radically new optical properties. This article reviews these advances and the new possibilities they offer for nonlinear optics and quantum information science. As a basis for the theory of electromagnetically induced transparency the authors consider the atomic dynamics and the optical response of the medium to a continuous-wave laser. They then discuss pulse propagation and the adiabatic evolution of field-coupled states and show how coherently prepared media can be used to improve frequency conversion in nonlinear optical mixing experiments. The extension of these concepts to very weak optical fields in the few-photon limit is then examined. The review concludes with a discussion of future prospects and potential new applications.