Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Broadband excitation and inhomogeneous broadening in photon-echo experiment

M. Defour, J. Keller, J.-L. Le Gouët

Published Apr 1, 1986• 31 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Stimulated photon echoes (three-pulse echoes) produced by broadband (incoherent) light pulses are discussed. A switching time corresponding to the reciprocal inhomogeneous width is predicted for the echo signal when the time interval between the first two time-overlapping, mutually coherent pulses is scanned across 0. The effect is demonstrated in an experiment performed with cesium vapor. A new method for fast sampling of atomic or molecular velocity distribution is proposed with potential applications to photodissociation and photofragmentation studies.

DOI
10.1364/josab.3.000544

Related papers

Fast Sampling of Atomic Velocities by Incoherent Light Stimulated Photon Echoes

M. Defour, J. Keller, J.-L. Le Gouët

It has been recently pointed out that incoherent light can be used to generate coherent optical transients and that there are decided advantages in using such broad-band non-laser source to achieve very high time resolution {1,2}. When a light pulse and its time-delayed replica interact with a sample to produce the non-linear optical response, the ultimate time resolution should identify with the correlation time τC of the light field rather than with the pulse duration τL. The situation where τC ≪ τL is easily obtained with broad-band incoherent light sources. Time resolution in the femtosecond range is then attainable using nanosecond light pulses. This has been recently demonstrated through the observation of the relaxation of photon echoes in Nd3+-doped silicate glass {1,2}. In these cases, attention is focused on the measurement of fast homogeneous decay rates and the inhomogeneous broadening ΩD is assumed to be much larger than the spectral width of the excitation light.

International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena•Jan 1, 1986•0 citations

Storage and time reversal of light pulses using photon echoes

N. W. Carlson, William Randall Babbitt, THOMAS W. MOSSBERG +2 more

We have studied the temporal profile of photon-echo signals generated by combined gated cw and pulsed dye-laser excitation of the inhomogeneously broadened, 555.6-nm absorption line of (174)Yb vapor. We find that the echo profile is, after time reversal, essentially identical with that of the first excitation pulse. We give a new analysis of this effect. Since time-reversed pulse reproduction should also occur in inhomogeneously broadened solid samples, and since we observe time-reversed reproduced pulses up to 4% as intense as the input pulse, this effect may have important applications in optical signal-processing systems.

Optics Letters•Sep 1, 1983•102 citations

Femtosecond incoherent photon echo from rhodamine B in propylene glycol. Inhomogeneous broadening and spectral diffusion at room temperature

Ruihua Zhang, Tzyy‐Schiuan Yang, Anne B. Myers

Two-pulse degenerate four-wave mixing (photon-echo) experiments using “incoherent” light are reported for rhodamine B in propylene glycol and ethanol at 295 K. The signal detected in a particular direction is strongly asymmetric with respect to the time delay between the two pulses, implying that the electronic spectrum is inhomogeneously broadened on the time scale of the “waiting time” between interactions of the material system with the second and third electric fields. Similar experiments on nile blue yield a symmetric signal response characteristic of a homogeneously broadened system. The effective waiting times in experimental configurations employing parallel and perpendicularly polarized excitation pulses are discussed.

Chemical Physics Letters•Aug 1, 1993•21 citations

Photon locking and its observation by the probe-echo method: application to optical and microwave transitions

Rob Vreeker, Max Glasbeek, A. H. Zewail

In this paper we consider the coherences that are produced in a photon (or spin) locking experiment involving a molecular \ntwo-level system. New coherences, not anticipated from the Feynman-Vernon-Hellwarth representation, are predicted if \nthe transition is inhomogeneously broadened. The influence of duration, power, and phase of the driving and probe pulses \nin the locking experiment on the shape of the simulated echo responses is discussed in detail, and a comparison with experiments \nis made.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry•Jan 1, 1989•1 citation

Theoretical study of photon echoes associated with the coherent nonlinear optical effect in a resonant three-level system

M. Aihara, Humio Inaba

An analytical study of the photon echoes associated with the three-level system interacting resonantly with optical pulses possessing two different frequencies is performed. It is predicted that photon echoes arise at anomalous times corresponding to the correlation between the inhomogeneous broadenings for the different spectral lines as well as at the normal time expected in a simple two-level system. This new effect is caused by the coupling of the two resonant transitions through the common energy level. Furthermore, if the particle does not have inversion symmetry, the echoes with the sum or difference frequency of the exciting optical pulses can be observed in such a system. The quantitative analysis is also given for intensities, direction of propagation and polarizations of the anomalous echoes which depend upon the exciting pulses with different frequency.

Journal of Physics A Mathematical Nuclear and General•Nov 1, 1973•21 citations

DEGENERATE PHOTON ECHOES

Masaharu Mitsunaga, M. K. Kim, Ravinder Kachru

The three-pulse stimulated photon echo has been considered as one of the most fundamental transient four wave mixing processes1, where each of the three excitation pulses induces a single elementary interaction process between a laser field and an inhomogeneously broadened two-level system., resulting in a burst of the fourth wave, i.e., echo. Now if four or more optical pulses are applied to a medium, a number of photon echoes should be expected, in general. At low excitation intensities where the perturbation theory is applicable, however, the dominant nonlinear process is still the three-pulse stimulated echo and consequently each echo signal is generated only by three of the preceding pulses. It is rather a remarkable result that the echo intensity is unaffected by the presence of all the rest of the pulses other than its three generators. With this in mind, it is theoretically and experimentally shown that by applying a single optical pulse (#1) propagating along k1 followed by N pairs of counter-propagating pulses (#2j (k2j) and #3j− (k3j = −k2j); j=1,…N) in various directions, it is possible to obtain N photon echoes along the direction -k1 opposite to the first pulse #1. We will call this degenerate photon echoes, degenerate in. the sense that the echoes are spatially overlapping and temporally simultaneous. When N=l, this scheme is reduced to the ordinary backward photon echo2,3. The doubly degenerate case (N=2) is illustrated in Fig. 1. The j-th echo will be generated by the set of pulses (#1, #2j, #3j) and appear at t = t3j + t2j − t1 where t1, i2j and t3j are the arrival times of the pulses #1, #2j and #3j, respectively.

•Jul 18, 1988•0 citations
Stimulated photon echoes (three-pulse echoes) produced by broadband (incoherent) light pulses are discussed. A switching time corresponding to the reciprocal inhomogeneous width is predicted for the echo signal when the time interval between the first two time-overlapping, mutually coherent pulses is scanned across 0. The effect is demonstrated in an experiment performed with cesium vapor. A new method for fast sampling of atomic or molecular velocity distribution is proposed with potential applications to photodissociation and photofragmentation studies.
It has been recently pointed out that incoherent light can be used to generate coherent optical transients and that there are decided advantages in using such broad-band non-laser source to achieve very high time resolution {1,2}. When a light pulse and its time-delayed replica interact with a sample to produce the non-linear optical response, the ultimate time resolution should identify with the correlation time τC of the light field rather than with the pulse duration τL. The situation where τC ≪ τL is easily obtained with broad-band incoherent light sources. Time resolution in the femtosecond range is then attainable using nanosecond light pulses. This has been recently demonstrated through the observation of the relaxation of photon echoes in Nd3+-doped silicate glass {1,2}. In these cases, attention is focused on the measurement of fast homogeneous decay rates and the inhomogeneous broadening ΩD is assumed to be much larger than the spectral width of the excitation light.
We have studied the temporal profile of photon-echo signals generated by combined gated cw and pulsed dye-laser excitation of the inhomogeneously broadened, 555.6-nm absorption line of (174)Yb vapor. We find that the echo profile is, after time reversal, essentially identical with that of the first excitation pulse. We give a new analysis of this effect. Since time-reversed pulse reproduction should also occur in inhomogeneously broadened solid samples, and since we observe time-reversed reproduced pulses up to 4% as intense as the input pulse, this effect may have important applications in optical signal-processing systems.
Two-pulse degenerate four-wave mixing (photon-echo) experiments using “incoherent” light are reported for rhodamine B in propylene glycol and ethanol at 295 K. The signal detected in a particular direction is strongly asymmetric with respect to the time delay between the two pulses, implying that the electronic spectrum is inhomogeneously broadened on the time scale of the “waiting time” between interactions of the material system with the second and third electric fields. Similar experiments on nile blue yield a symmetric signal response characteristic of a homogeneously broadened system. The effective waiting times in experimental configurations employing parallel and perpendicularly polarized excitation pulses are discussed.
In this paper we consider the coherences that are produced in a photon (or spin) locking experiment involving a molecular \ntwo-level system. New coherences, not anticipated from the Feynman-Vernon-Hellwarth representation, are predicted if \nthe transition is inhomogeneously broadened. The influence of duration, power, and phase of the driving and probe pulses \nin the locking experiment on the shape of the simulated echo responses is discussed in detail, and a comparison with experiments \nis made.
An analytical study of the photon echoes associated with the three-level system interacting resonantly with optical pulses possessing two different frequencies is performed. It is predicted that photon echoes arise at anomalous times corresponding to the correlation between the inhomogeneous broadenings for the different spectral lines as well as at the normal time expected in a simple two-level system. This new effect is caused by the coupling of the two resonant transitions through the common energy level. Furthermore, if the particle does not have inversion symmetry, the echoes with the sum or difference frequency of the exciting optical pulses can be observed in such a system. The quantitative analysis is also given for intensities, direction of propagation and polarizations of the anomalous echoes which depend upon the exciting pulses with different frequency.
The three-pulse stimulated photon echo has been considered as one of the most fundamental transient four wave mixing processes1, where each of the three excitation pulses induces a single elementary interaction process between a laser field and an inhomogeneously broadened two-level system., resulting in a burst of the fourth wave, i.e., echo. Now if four or more optical pulses are applied to a medium, a number of photon echoes should be expected, in general. At low excitation intensities where the perturbation theory is applicable, however, the dominant nonlinear process is still the three-pulse stimulated echo and consequently each echo signal is generated only by three of the preceding pulses. It is rather a remarkable result that the echo intensity is unaffected by the presence of all the rest of the pulses other than its three generators. With this in mind, it is theoretically and experimentally shown that by applying a single optical pulse (#1) propagating along k1 followed by N pairs of counter-propagating pulses (#2j (k2j) and #3j− (k3j = −k2j); j=1,…N) in various directions, it is possible to obtain N photon echoes along the direction -k1 opposite to the first pulse #1. We will call this degenerate photon echoes, degenerate in. the sense that the echoes are spatially overlapping and temporally simultaneous. When N=l, this scheme is reduced to the ordinary backward photon echo2,3. The doubly degenerate case (N=2) is illustrated in Fig. 1. The j-th echo will be generated by the set of pulses (#1, #2j, #3j) and appear at t = t3j + t2j − t1 where t1, i2j and t3j are the arrival times of the pulses #1, #2j and #3j, respectively.