A solution is presented for the damped optical Bloch equations under the excitation of a smooth pulse by first deriving three independent third-order equations of the Bloch vector components. Each equation is reduced to quadratures by assuming that the logarithmic time derivative of the field amplitude is small compared to the Rabi frequency. This results in an approximate summation of the infinite-order time-dependent perturbation in the field amplitude. The relaxation-dependent induced damping of the population inversion is calculated. Also calculated are additional relaxation-dependent contributions to the intensity-dependent refractive index. The time-integrated intensity contribution tends to cause line asymmetry, which becomes, at later times, linear in ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{2}$ when ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{2}\ensuremath{\gg}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{1}$ and zero when $2{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{2}={\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{1}$, where ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{1}$ and ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{2}$ are the atomic energy and phase-changing relaxations, respectively. The dependence of the spectral broadening on pulse length, pressure, and length of the sample is discussed.
A solution is presented for the damped optical Bloch equations under the excitation of a smooth pulse by first deriving three independent third-order equations of the Bloch vector components. Each equation is reduced to quadratures by assuming that the logarithmic time derivative of the field amplitude is small compared to the Rabi frequency. This results in an approximate summation of the infinite-order time-dependent perturbation in the field amplitude. The relaxation-dependent induced damping of the population inversion is calculated. Also calculated are additional relaxation-dependent contributions to the intensity-dependent refractive index. The time-integrated intensity contribution tends to cause line asymmetry, which becomes, at later times, linear in \ensuremathγ2 when \ensuremathγ2\ensuremath≫\ensuremathγ1 and zero when 2\ensuremathγ2=\ensuremathγ1, where \ensuremathγ1 and \ensuremathγ2 are the atomic energy and phase-changing relaxations, respectively. The dependence of the spectral broadening on pulse length, pressure, and length of the sample is discussed.
The coherent interaction of two smoothly varying, near-resonant, two-photon pulses with a three-level system can be described by "two-photon damped Bloch equations" which are analogous to those for a one-photon transition in a two-level system except for the presence of a two-photon coupling and a frequency shift. These equations are solved for the cases ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{1}$, ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{2}\ensuremath{\ll}\ensuremath{\Omega}$, ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{1}={\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{2}$, and $\frac{{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{2}{k}^{2}{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}^{4}}{{\ensuremath{\Omega}}^{2}}$, ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{1}\ensuremath{\ll}\ensuremath{\Omega}$, where ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{1}$ and ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{2}$ are the atomic energy and phase relaxation widths, respectively, and $\ensuremath{\Omega}$ is the Rabi frequency. The leading contribution to the refractive index is intensity dependent, caused by the level shifts inherent in multiphoton processes; it includes a relaxation dependent part which is important at times shorter than ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{1}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. The second-order contributions depend on the square of the intensity and the time-integrated square of the intensity. The latter contribution, which is relaxation dependent, causes line asymmetry at the long-wavelength wing; it consists of a term proportional to ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{2}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{1}$ and only important at early times and a term proportional to $2{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{2}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{1}$.
The method of multiple scales is used to derive a solution of the damped optical Bloch equations of a two-level atomic system due to a strong pulsed field. The time dependence of the oscillations of the atomic inversion influenced by detuning and power broadening is found. The population inversion consists, in general, of three terms: a quasisteady term, quasisteady term that decays with time, and an oscillatory term that also decays with time. In the limit of constant fields, the solution of Torrey for damped systems and that of Rabi for undamped systems are recovered. For an adiabatic switching of the field, the solution for undamped systems reduces to that of Crisp in the adiabatic following limit. An equation describing the field envelope is derived for an arbitrary amount of detuning. At exact resonance, this equation reduces to a pendulum equation, in agreement with previous analyses.
We investigate the properties of a homogeneously broadened three-level system interacting with two optical fields, Eω1(x,t) and Eω2(x,t), with central frequencies ω1 and ω2 whose amplitudes are assumed to be slowly varying in time compared with dephasing times of the optical transitions. We calculate Raman susceptibilities allowing each transition to be induced by both fields and without employing the rotating wave approximation (RWA); this enables correct calculation of the optical response of the medium when the fields are on-resonance or arbitrarily far off-resonance with the Raman transition. In some frequency regions the RWA causes substantial errors. A distinction is drawn between two different types of RWA: (a) a neglect of off-resonant components of the polarization for direct optical transitions, and (b) neglect of off-resonant components of off-diagonal density matrix elements of order Eω1(x,t)Eω2(x,t)* in the field amplitudes. The first RWA is known to become inaccurate when the pump frequency is significantly off-resonance with the pump transition. We show that the second RWA becomes inaccurate when ‖ω1−ω2‖ is small or comparable to the active Raman mode frequency (even when the field are close to resonance). Calculations based upon our expressions show that when the pump frequency is close to resonance with the optical transition from the ground state, a nonlinear absorption at the Stokes shifted frequency occurs. This absorption can significantly decrease the Raman gain. Also, we find that Rabi splittings in a three-level system can occur even when the pulse durations of the incident fields are short compared with the T1 times of the system. We solve analytically for the optical response of the system to two fields of arbitrary strength and frequency. We analyze this solution and its perturbative expansion in the field amplitudes. We use the Maxwell–Bloch equations developed here to propagate time-dependent pulses.
We derive two types of perturbative approximation for the response of collisionally broadened two-level atoms to a time-dependent field. The perturbative approximations for the inversion and polarization are valid to any desired order in the derivatives of the field. Comparison with a numerical solution of the full density-matrix equations of motion demonstrates that the new approximations significantly improve upon the adiabatic-following and collisional steady-state approximations for time-dependent pulses in the appropriate damping regime. Application of the approximations to pulse propagation, sideband instability, and population pulsations is discussed. The collisional steady-state and adiabatic-following approximations find extensive use in many areas of nonlinear optics. The deficiencies of these approximations are well known: The collisional steady-state approxirnation is valid only for monochromatic (cw) radiation and the adiabatic-following approximation is valid only in the absence of damping and only if the product of the detuning and a characteristic time is much larger than one. In spite of their manifest faults, the collisional steady-state and adiabatic-following approximations are often exceptionally good approximations, in the appropriate damping regime, for the local response of a vapor of two-level atoms to a slowly varying field. However, timedependent nonlinear processes modify a propagating field zuch that it varies less slowly and the neglected portions of the atomic response become more important. ' Therefore improved approximations for the damped atomic response to a time-dependent field are desirable. In this paper we present two improved perturbative approximations for the inversion and polarization of collisionally broadened two-level atoms induced by a time-dependent field. The adiabatic-following approximation for two-level systems was derived phenomenologically by Grischkowsky, who used it to explain certain experimental results of near-resonance laser-pulse propagation. Motivated by the work of Grischkowsky, Crisp provided an analytic derivation for the adiabatic-following approximation and obtained a quadrature for the error. The essential feature of Crisp's derivation is the expansion of the kernel of the integral representation of the off-diagonal density-matrix element p2, in a Fourier series with integration proceeding term by term. Both the adiabatic-following approximation and the collisional steady-state approximation were obtained in first order. Both Crisp and Grischkowsky used the adiabatic inversion to derive a correction to the adiabatic-following approximation for the polarization. We have shown how Crisp's method can be extended to obtain corrections to the adiabatic inversion and to improve corrections to the polarization in the absence of damping. In this paper we show how the integrated Fourier series can be used to obtain two types of perturbative approximation for the inversion and polarization of collisionally broadened twolevel systems that are valid to any desired order in the derivatives of the field. The two types of perturbative approximation to the inversion are (i) a formal solution of the rate equation for the inversion which is obtained from the density-matrix equations for the populations; and (ii) an approximation obtained using the approximation (p22 — p») —I — 4p2, P, 2, valid for weak damping. The approximations for the polarization are obtained by substituting either (i) or (ii) for the inversion in the integrated-Fourier-series expansion of p2, . The approximation obtained using the first type of approximate inversion converges most rapidly for strong damping and reduces to the collisional steady-state approximation when the magnitude and phase of the field are constant. The approximation obtained using the second type of approxirnate inversion converges most rapidly for weak damping and in first order reduces to the adiabaticfollowing approximation for zero damping. Comparison with a numerical solution of the density-matrix equations demonstrates that retention of higher-order derivatives by retaining more terms in the integrated Fourier series results in a significant improvement in accuracy for a time-dependent field. However, Rabi oscillations, which can be an important component of the nonlinear response, ' cannot be obtained by finite-order approxi
We extend the exciton population equations of a two-level quantum dot system with weak excitation to the ones with strong excitations, in which, the phonon-induced intensity-dependent dephasing time and decay rate are involved. The straightforward calculated populations from the modified population equations demonstrate the damping behavior of Rabi oscillation as the external field increasing. The effect of the intensity-dependent dephasing time and the intensity-dependent decay rate are also discussed.
A perturbation scheme based on the slow adiabatic variation of the radiation-field characteristics is applied to the Maxwell-Bloch equations. The two leading orders in the perturbation expansion yield a set of partial differential equations for $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{k}}(\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{r}},t)$, $\ensuremath{\omega}(\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{r}},t)$, and $a(\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{r}},t)$ (the local wave vector and frequency and the field amplitude). All the coefficients of these equations are derivable from a single dispersion function $H(\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{k}},\ensuremath{\omega},a)$, this feature is used to further reduce the equations to a set of Hamilton-Jacobi-type ordinary differential equations (ray equations). Unlike the linear geometric optics case the properties of the "local lens" seen by a ray depend also on the amplitude of the field propagating along neighboring rays. A method to derive additional equations for the evolution of the local lens along a single ray and to decouple the equations for different rays is described, the resultant enlarged set of ray equations is derived. The limitations and advantages of this approximation scheme are discussed in comparison with other approaches.