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Physical Review A

Double-Photon Transitions in Microwave Spectroscopy

F. Chiarini, M. Martinelli, S. Santucci, Pietro Bucci

Published Oct 1, 1972• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The expression for the absorption coefficient in two-photon resonance transitions is deduced under general conditions. No particular restrictions are imposed on the level system or on the frequencies and intensities of the fields. The following cases are considered: (i) a two-level system (with and without singularities) irradiated by a single wave and (ii) a three-level system irradiated by two waves. Some theoretical and experimental disagreements reported by authors of previous papers are examined and clarified by the present theory.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.6.1300

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The expression for the absorption coefficient in two-photon resonance transitions is deduced under general conditions. No particular restrictions are imposed on the level system or on the frequencies and intensities of the fields. The following cases are considered: (i) a two-level system (with and without singularities) irradiated by a single wave and (ii) a three-level system irradiated by two waves. Some theoretical and experimental disagreements reported by authors of previous papers are examined and clarified by the present theory.
Two-photon transitions have provided the basis for numerous useful nonlinear interactions with radiation. In this paper we calculate the absorption and coupling coefficients for one-, two-, and three-wave mixing in two-photon homogeneously broadened media. The resulting field equations form the basis for understanding saturation spectroscopy, phase conjugation,1 and single-mode instabilities2 in lasers and optical bistability in two-photon media. We assume that the wave frequencies are not resonant with any intermediate state j and that the probe and conjugate waves cannot saturate the two-photon transition. This allows us to use the two-photon two-level model and to transfer much of our knowledge of the one-photon two-level systems to the two-photon case. Two major differences occur between the two models. First, dynamic Stark shifts of the active levels play an important role in generating asymmetric spectra and nonzero dispersion (≃ω s T1) at line center. Second, high pump intensities do not bleach the absorption coefficient at the Rabi sidebands.
A general theory has been developed to calculate the response, in NMR conditions, of a spin system irradiated by two nearly resonant waves having different frequencies and intense enough to produce an appreciable saturation. The absorption signal has been calculated employing the statistical operator technique, treating the electromagnetic field by the second quantization formalism. Two kinds of transitions are expected: The first one arises from processes in which n photons of one wave are emitted and n photons of the other wave are absorbed, the second one arises from processes involving the emission of n photons of one wave and the absorption of n ± 1 photons of the other. In the first case all the transitions coalesce in a single dispersionlike signal, which occurs when the frequencies of the two waves are nearly the same; in the second case a many-line spectrum occurs in which emission and absorption lines are present. The experimental results here reported strictly agree with theoretical previsions.
We extend our theoretical formalism describing how one strong classical wave and one or two weak quantum-mechanical waves interact in a nonlinear medium to the ``two-photon two-level'' model. In this model, field transitions between two levels not connected by an electric dipole occur by means of a two-photon transition using off-resonant intermediate levels. This model has many similarities with, as well as significant differences from, the corresponding one-photon two-level model that has been treated in the previous papers in this series. The theory yields the first detailed calculation of the two-photon resonance fluorescence spectrum, as well as the complete set of four coefficients that describe the quantum theory of two-, three-, and four-wave mixing.
For pt.II see ibid., vol.9, p.1221 (1976). Discusses the steady-state response of a three-level atom in two-photon absorption. The applied laser fields can have arbitrary intensities (within the rotating-wave approximation (RWA)). A general expression is derived for the population excited on the uppermost energy level. Two special cases which allow a trivial Doppler averaging are treated in detail. For an off-resonant intermediate state the two-photon spectrum is a simple Lorentzian showing a power shift and modest cross power broadening. The same features are retained when several off-resonance intermediate levels are assumed. For very strong laser fields the Doppler shifts can be neglected in the first approximation. The corresponding spectra are analysed.
Two-photon absorption is theoretically analyzed within the semiclassical formalism of radiation-matter interaction. We consider an ensemble of inhomogeneously broadened three-level atoms subjected to the action of two counterpropagating fields of the same frequency. By concentrating in the limit of large detuning in one-photon transitions, we solve perturbatively the Bloch equations in a non-usual way. In this way we derive an analytical expression for the width of the two-photon resonance that makes evident sub-Doppler two--photon spectroscopy. We also derive an analytical expression for the Stark shift of the two-photon resonance.