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Applied Physics Letters

Coherent optical pulse reshaping in a resonant molecular absorber

S. M. Hamadani, J. Goldhar, Norman A. Kurnit, Ali Javan

Published Aug 1, 1974• 28 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The coherent reshaping of short-duration (2–40 nsec) N2O laser pulses in a resonant NH3 absorber is studied for a variable number of absorption lengths (αl ≤ 14). For small-area square pulses, the reshaping can produce subnanosecond pulses at the leading and trailing edges. A rapid phase reversal gives rise to amplification for times comparable to the transverse relaxation time. Zero-degree pulses [∫−∞∞E(z,t) d t=0] are observed to propagate with enhanced transmission for both short-duration low-intensity pulses and longer pulses of intensity sufficient to enable observation of optical nutation effects.

DOI
10.1063/1.1655422

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IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics•Sep 1, 1970•8 citations
The coherent reshaping of short-duration (2–40 nsec) N2O laser pulses in a resonant NH3 absorber is studied for a variable number of absorption lengths (αl ≤ 14). For small-area square pulses, the reshaping can produce subnanosecond pulses at the leading and trailing edges. A rapid phase reversal gives rise to amplification for times comparable to the transverse relaxation time. Zero-degree pulses [∫−∞∞E(z,t) d t=0] are observed to propagate with enhanced transmission for both short-duration low-intensity pulses and longer pulses of intensity sufficient to enable observation of optical nutation effects.
When an intense and short laser pulse or a fast-switching-on/off laser field interacts with a resonant absorbing medium, several optical coherent transient effects can be observed, including the self-induced transparency effect, photon echo effect, optical nutation effect, and the optical free induction decay effect. The study of these effects enables us to gain a deeper understanding of the coherent transient interaction of an intense pulsed or rapidly switched optical field with the resonant medium, and to measure the magnitude of the dipole-moment matrix elements, relaxation parameters, and spectral broadening mechanisms of the investigated materials. On the other hand, these optical coherent transient effects can also be applied for developing special techniques of optical pulse delay, pulse reshaping, and optical pulse manipulation.
A study was made of coherent propagation of small-area pulses across a resonant absorber. At least five-fold reduction in the duration of subnanosecond pulses with a steep leading edge (τe ≲ 20 psec) was observed as a result of passage through a ruby rod cooled to 100 K. This reduction in the duration was due to the finite time needed to establish absorption. The experimental results were in agreement with a numerical solution of a system of Maxwell-Bloch equations describing the interaction of a field of a pulse with a resonant medium.
The observation of self-induced transparency on the magnetic dipole 2P1/2 F = 3 5 2P3/2 F′ = 4, j MF = 0 transition of atomic iodine has been extended to cover pulse areas up to 4 ~. Laser pulses of various areas have been shown to be reshaped considerably by the coherent field-matter interaction. Pulses have been found to narrow by two-thirds for a 3 ~ -pulse. The lower limit of the homogeneous relaxation time T′2 of atomic iodine vapour is determined from pulse broadening and transmission measurements.
Experiments are described in which low-intensity laser pulses of zero area [∫−∞∞E(z,t) dt=0] are propagated through a degenerate resonantly absorbing medium with greatly reduced absorption. These pulses are constructed either electro-optically or by allowing a non-zero-degree pulse to evolve toward zero area by means of a resonant absorption and reradiation process. We observe the transmission of as much as 65% of the energy of such pulses through a resonant absorber which attenuates the same cw laser by e−αL, with αL ≈ 20.
An investigation of the propagation properties of a short pulse in a resonant absorber with a homogeneously broadened transition is presented with two main questions in mind: 1) the influence of the input pulse area on the transitory regime and on the steady-state propagation; 2) the effects of atomic coherence on the pulse shaping and the time delay of the leading edge of the pulse. The transitory regime of a propagating pulse is investigated and the stability of some asymptotic wave form confirmed. As expected, the transversal relaxation mechanism affects critically the major features of the coherent interaction. A detailed analysis of this problem is also presented.