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Physical Review A

ac Stark-mediated quantum control with femtosecond two-color laser pulses

Carles Serrat

Published Nov 21, 2005• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A critical dependence of the quantum interference on the optical Stark spectral shift produced when two-color laser pulses interact with a two-level medium is observed. The four-wave mixing of two ultrashort phase-locked $\ensuremath{\omega}\text{\ensuremath{-}}3\ensuremath{\omega}$ laser pulses propagating coherently in a two-level system depends on the pulses' relative phase. The phase dominating the efficiency of the coupling to the anti-Stokes Raman component is found to be determined by the sign of the total ac Stark shift induced in the system, in such a way that the phase sensitivity disappears precisely where the ac Stark effect due to both pulses is compensated. A coherent control scheme based on this phenomenon can be contemplated as the basis for nonlinear optical spectroscopy techniques.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.72.051803

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A critical dependence of the quantum interference on the optical Stark spectral shift produced when two-color laser pulses interact with a two-level medium is observed. The four-wave mixing of two ultrashort phase-locked \ensuremathω\ensuremath-3\ensuremathω\ensuremath{\omega}\text{\ensuremath{-}}3\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremathω\ensuremath-3\ensuremathω laser pulses propagating coherently in a two-level system depends on the pulses' relative phase. The phase dominating the efficiency of the coupling to the anti-Stokes Raman component is found to be determined by the sign of the total ac Stark shift induced in the system, in such a way that the phase sensitivity disappears precisely where the ac Stark effect due to both pulses is compensated. A coherent control scheme based on this phenomenon can be contemplated as the basis for nonlinear optical spectroscopy techniques.
The four-wave mixing produced with two ultrashort phase-locked w-3w laser pulses propagating coherently in a two-level system in the infrared spectral region is shown to depend on the pulses relative phase. The Maxwell-Bloch equations are solved beyond the rotating-wave approximation to account for field frequencies which are largely detuned from the atomic resonance. The relative phase dominating the efficiency of the coupling to the 5w anti-Stokes Raman component is determined by sign of the total ac Stark shift induced in the system, in such a way that the phase influence disappears precisely where the ac Stark effect due to both pulses is compensated. This fundamental quantum interference effect can be the basis for nonlinear ultrafast optical spectroscopy techniques.
The four-wave mixing produced with two ultrashort phase-locked !-3! laser pulses propagating coherently in a two-level system in the infrared spectral region is shown to depend on the pulses relative phase. The Maxwell-Bloch equations are solved beyond the rotating-wave approximation to account for field frequencies which are largely detuned from the atomic resonance. The relative phase dominating the efficiency of the coupling to the 5! anti-Stokes Raman component is determined by sign of the total ac Stark shift induced in the system, in such a way that the phase influence disappears precisely where the ac Stark effect due to both pulses is compensated. This fundamental quantum interference effect can be the basis for nonlinear ultrafast optical spectroscopy techniques. Phenomena arising from the coherent control of nonlinear interactions are of importance in fields as diverse as optoelectronics and materials research, in high harmonic generation, in photoionization or molecular dissociation, and in biological applications such as spectroscopy and imaging, among others [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Optical quantum coherent control is based on the fact that the phases of interfering transition amplitudes in light-matter interactions can be controlled through the optical phase of coherent light sources that drive the interaction, in such a way that the transition rates to final states and the dynamics at various stages of the process can be modified [1]. In a recent paper [8], a theoretical investigation on the quantum coherent control of the optical transient four-wave mixing of two intense phase-locked femtosecond laser pulses of central angular frequencies ω and 3ω propagating in a two-level atom (TLA) was reported. It was shown how the nonlinear (χ (3) ) coupling to the antiStokes Raman field at frequency 5ω depends critically on the initial relative phase φ of the propagating pulses. In Ref. [8], the study was centered to intense pulses in the visible and ultraviolet spectral regions, with frequencies at resonance or lower than the atomic transition. The phenomena observed in [8], however, can be scaled to various laser and material parameters. In the infrared spectral range, for instance, experiments on ultrafast molecular dynamics are frequently performed by help of twocolor pump probe nonlinear spectroscopy techniques. In this type of studies, due to the high intensities inherent to ultrashort (subpicosecond) pulses, nonlinear effects such as stimulated Raman processes may become important and are often utilized as a complementary tool to gain information [9]. In this Letter, we address the conditions for quantum coherent control of transient four-wave mixing interactions with two phase-locked ω-3ω femtosecond laser pulses in the mid-IR spectral region. Our purpose is to reveal the basic physics for a strict two-level medium and to this end the Maxwell-Bloch TLA will be considered. We will study pulses with a duration of 300 fs (with a w 5w
Quantum control of the four-wave mixing produced by two-color $\ensuremath{\omega}\text{\ensuremath{-}}3\ensuremath{\omega}$ femtosecond laser pulses propagating in a two-level system is accomplished by varying the relative phase between the two laser pulses. The phase sensitivity of the spectral $5\ensuremath{\omega}$ anti-Stokes component is cancelled when the ac Stark shift produced by the $\ensuremath{\omega}$ and $3\ensuremath{\omega}$ pulses is compensated. We apply perturbation theory and provide simple analytical formulas for the phase-sensitivity cancellation in the $5\ensuremath{\omega}$ anti-Stokes component. We demonstrate that this quantum interference effect is robust against chirping of the pulses and show that asymmetric chirping results in phase-sensitive shaping of the four-wave mixing spectra.
A theoretical investigation on the coherent control of optical transient four-wave mixing interactions in two-level systems with two intense few-cycle propagating laser pulses of central angular frequencies $\ensuremath{\omega}$ and $3\ensuremath{\omega}$ is reported. By numerically solving the full Maxwell-Bloch equations beyond the slowly varying envelope and rotating-wave approximations in the time domain, the nonlinear coupling to the optical field at frequency $5\ensuremath{\omega}$ is found to depend critically on the initial relative phase $\ensuremath{\phi}$ of the propagating pulses: the coupling is enhanced when the pulses interfere constructively in the center $(\ensuremath{\phi}=0)$, while it is nearly suppressed when they are out of phase $(\ensuremath{\phi}=\ensuremath{\pi})$.
Coherent Stark nonlinear spectroscopy (CSNS) is a spectroscopic tool based on the cancellation of the phase sensitivity at frequency $5\ensuremath{\omega}$ in the ultrafast four-wave mixing (FWM) of two-color pulses with frequencies $\ensuremath{\omega}$ and $3\ensuremath{\omega}$. We develop a theory for CSNS in three-level V-type systems, and reveal that the mechanism for the phase sensitivity at $5\ensuremath{\omega}$ is the quantum interference between the two primary paths in the FWM of the $\ensuremath{\omega}$ and $3\ensuremath{\omega}$ fields. We find that the cancellation phenomenon occurs when the probability amplitude of one of these two primary pathways becomes equal to zero due to the competition effect between the two allowed transitions in the V-type system. The analytical expressions that describe the phase-sensitivity phenomenon and the conditions for its cancellation have been derived on the basis of perturbation theory, and are confirmed by numerical integration of the density matrix and Maxwell equations. We argue that CSNS can be utilized, in particular, for the investigation of optically dense media.