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

Linear pulse propagation in stationary and nonstationary multilevel media in the transient regime

John N. Sweetser, Ian A. Walmsley

Published Mar 1, 1996• 22 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The effects of coherent propagation of an ultrashort pulse through an extended collection of multilevel systems is examined. It is found that the transmitted field shows significant deviation from both Beer’s law absorption and the conventional area theorem. In addition, when the system is in a nonstationary state it is found that additional frequencies can appear in the transmitted pulse spectrum. Such effects may be important in several areas of current interest, such as ultrafast pump–probe, coherent control, and inversionless amplification experiments in extended, multilevel media as well as in ultrafast-laser development.

DOI
10.1364/josab.13.000601

Related papers

Coherent propagation of intense ultrashort laser pulses in a molecular multilevel medium

Szczepan Chelkowski, André D. Bandrauk

The Maxwell–Schrödinger equations describing the ultrashort laser pulse propagation in multilevel molecular media are shown to be analytically solvable and to reduce to nonlinear multisine-Gordon equations for certain models of the field–molecule system. Special cases of level schemes are shown to lead to soliton propagation. A numerical study is presented in order to examine the effect of nonresonant (virtual) transitions on pulse propagation and amplification in a three-level molecular system as a function of intensity and detuning.

The Journal of Chemical Physics•Sep 15, 1988•30 citations

PARTIALLY COHERENT PULSE PROPAGATION IN RESONANT LINEAR AND NONLINEAR MEDIA

Laleh Mokhtarpour

Optical experiments reveal the fact that real laser pulses have random fluctuations in their amplitude and phase that crucially affect pulse evolution. Statistical optics considers the random nature of light to give a more realistic description of laser pulses behavior. Generation of ultrashort pulses, operating at frequencies close to internal transition frequencies of medium atoms, motivated the growing interest in studying on-resonance light-matter interactions. Moreover, there exist optical phenomena that only occur at optical resonance. Thus, near resonance light-matter interactions are of great importance. In this dissertation, statistical properties of ultrashort pulses propagating in different linear and nonlinear media near optical resonance is studied. Various partially coherent pulses are simulated and effects of initial statistical properties of pulses on their propagation in resonant absorbing and amplifying media are explored. The research performed throughout this thesis leads to following results. 1- Various classes of ultrashort self-similar partially coherent pulses are explored along with closed form expressions for their correlation functions. Also, the evolution of coherence properties of pulses upon their short-distance and long-distance propagation is investigated. 2- Generic partially coherent pulses are simulated and their global and local correlation properties upon propagation in resonant linear absorber media are studied. The evolution of the coherence functions of pulses shows that partially coherent pulses are strongly affected by the medium regarding to their coherence levels. A correlation area theorem is also derived to describe global correlation properties of stochastic pulses propagating in such media. 3- Evolution of small-area pulse coherence properties, propagating in linear amplifiers near optical resonance, is studied. Our simulation results reveal that more coherent pulses are amplified more effectively by the medium than are their less coherent counterparts. 4- Propagation of partially coherent pulses in resonant, inhomogenously broadened nonlinear media is simulated. Stochastic pulses of different coherence levels are generated to investigate effects of initial properties of pulses on their long-term evolution. We also provide evidence of self-induced transparency phenomena and soliton formation for relatively coherent pulses. Also, evolution of the coherence functions reveal that low-coherence pulses lose their coherence level upon propagation faster than do highly coherent pulses.

•Jan 18, 2016•0 citations

Propagation of phase-modulated coherent radiation pulses in resonant media

Vladimir D Taranukhin, Sergey Y. Ten

A theoretical analysis is made of the propagation of phase-modulated laser pulses in a resonant two-level medium. It is shown that phase modulation results in the appearance of qualitatively new amplification (absorption) regimes. In one of these regimes, trains of ultrashort pulses may be generated at a high repetition frequency. An analysis is also made of the feasibility of compression of amplified pulses.

Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics•Sep 30, 1990•0 citations

Coherent interaction of radiation pulses with resonant multilevel media (review)

Leonid A Bol'shov, Vladimir V. Likhanskii

A review is given of recent theoretical investigations on coherent propagation and nonlinear interaction of multifrequency ultrashort radiation pulses in resonantly absorbing media. An analysis is made of frequency conversion by parametric interaction and stimulated Raman scattering of laser pulses in resonant three-level media. New ways of controlling the parameters of coherent pulses and the use of multifrequency pulses in the spectroscopy of multilevel media are discussed. The experimental capabilities of the investigated effects are considered.

Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics•Jul 31, 1985•20 citations

Propagation of ultrashort pulses in multilevel systems under electromagnetically induced transparency

Luı́s E. E. de Araujo

In this paper, I numerically investigate the propagation of ultrashort pulses through an extended collection of multilevel systems under the condition of electromagnetically induced transparency. The transparency of a weak probe pulse is induced by a much stronger coupling pulse. In the limit of a weak probe excitation and a large number of excited states, I show that the free-induction decay signal that would naturally follow the excitation pulse is strongly suppressed, and the envelope of the probe pulse suffers a distortion in its temporal profile as the pulse propagates into the medium. This distortion is characterized by a stronger absorption of the leading edge of the pulse than that of its trailing edge. The temporal phase of the pulse, however, remains constant throughout propagation.

Physical Review A•May 25, 2006•6 citations

Multilevel Maxwell–Bloch-equation description of ultrashort laser pulse amplification in inhomogeneously broadened XeCl media

Fumihiko Kannari, Minoru Obara

Coherent amplification of short-pulse XeCl lasers is studied theoretically by using multilevel Maxwell–Bloch equations in which the vibrational–rotational structures of a XeCl gain spectrum are included. The model used considers 100 transitions each in the P and R branches for six different vibrational transitions of XeCl(B, υ = 0) → XeCl(X, υ′ = 0–5). Coherence components between sublevels in the B and X states are also properly calculated. The model can successfully predict coherent effects such as a quantum beat caused by the spectrum overlap of the several vibrational–rotational transitions involved in a short-pulse laser spectrum. During amplification, laser pulses experience some nonlinear effects caused by the complex gain spectrum structure and by the coherent interactions; thus a considerable change in the laser pulse shape and a substantial reduction in the duration of the amplified laser pulse are predicted. The Frantz–Nodvik equation in the rate-equation limit and even single-level Maxwell–Bloch equations are not applicable for short-pulse propagation analyses in inhomogeneously broadened gain media.

Journal of the Optical Society of America B•Aug 1, 1990•10 citations
The effects of coherent propagation of an ultrashort pulse through an extended collection of multilevel systems is examined. It is found that the transmitted field shows significant deviation from both Beer’s law absorption and the conventional area theorem. In addition, when the system is in a nonstationary state it is found that additional frequencies can appear in the transmitted pulse spectrum. Such effects may be important in several areas of current interest, such as ultrafast pump–probe, coherent control, and inversionless amplification experiments in extended, multilevel media as well as in ultrafast-laser development.
The Maxwell–Schrödinger equations describing the ultrashort laser pulse propagation in multilevel molecular media are shown to be analytically solvable and to reduce to nonlinear multisine-Gordon equations for certain models of the field–molecule system. Special cases of level schemes are shown to lead to soliton propagation. A numerical study is presented in order to examine the effect of nonresonant (virtual) transitions on pulse propagation and amplification in a three-level molecular system as a function of intensity and detuning.
Optical experiments reveal the fact that real laser pulses have random fluctuations in their amplitude and phase that crucially affect pulse evolution. Statistical optics considers the random nature of light to give a more realistic description of laser pulses behavior. Generation of ultrashort pulses, operating at frequencies close to internal transition frequencies of medium atoms, motivated the growing interest in studying on-resonance light-matter interactions. Moreover, there exist optical phenomena that only occur at optical resonance. Thus, near resonance light-matter interactions are of great importance. In this dissertation, statistical properties of ultrashort pulses propagating in different linear and nonlinear media near optical resonance is studied. Various partially coherent pulses are simulated and effects of initial statistical properties of pulses on their propagation in resonant absorbing and amplifying media are explored. The research performed throughout this thesis leads to following results. 1- Various classes of ultrashort self-similar partially coherent pulses are explored along with closed form expressions for their correlation functions. Also, the evolution of coherence properties of pulses upon their short-distance and long-distance propagation is investigated. 2- Generic partially coherent pulses are simulated and their global and local correlation properties upon propagation in resonant linear absorber media are studied. The evolution of the coherence functions of pulses shows that partially coherent pulses are strongly affected by the medium regarding to their coherence levels. A correlation area theorem is also derived to describe global correlation properties of stochastic pulses propagating in such media. 3- Evolution of small-area pulse coherence properties, propagating in linear amplifiers near optical resonance, is studied. Our simulation results reveal that more coherent pulses are amplified more effectively by the medium than are their less coherent counterparts. 4- Propagation of partially coherent pulses in resonant, inhomogenously broadened nonlinear media is simulated. Stochastic pulses of different coherence levels are generated to investigate effects of initial properties of pulses on their long-term evolution. We also provide evidence of self-induced transparency phenomena and soliton formation for relatively coherent pulses. Also, evolution of the coherence functions reveal that low-coherence pulses lose their coherence level upon propagation faster than do highly coherent pulses.
A review is given of recent theoretical investigations on coherent propagation and nonlinear interaction of multifrequency ultrashort radiation pulses in resonantly absorbing media. An analysis is made of frequency conversion by parametric interaction and stimulated Raman scattering of laser pulses in resonant three-level media. New ways of controlling the parameters of coherent pulses and the use of multifrequency pulses in the spectroscopy of multilevel media are discussed. The experimental capabilities of the investigated effects are considered.
In this paper, I numerically investigate the propagation of ultrashort pulses through an extended collection of multilevel systems under the condition of electromagnetically induced transparency. The transparency of a weak probe pulse is induced by a much stronger coupling pulse. In the limit of a weak probe excitation and a large number of excited states, I show that the free-induction decay signal that would naturally follow the excitation pulse is strongly suppressed, and the envelope of the probe pulse suffers a distortion in its temporal profile as the pulse propagates into the medium. This distortion is characterized by a stronger absorption of the leading edge of the pulse than that of its trailing edge. The temporal phase of the pulse, however, remains constant throughout propagation.
Coherent amplification of short-pulse XeCl lasers is studied theoretically by using multilevel Maxwell–Bloch equations in which the vibrational–rotational structures of a XeCl gain spectrum are included. The model used considers 100 transitions each in the P and R branches for six different vibrational transitions of XeCl(B, υ = 0) → XeCl(X, υ′ = 0–5). Coherence components between sublevels in the B and X states are also properly calculated. The model can successfully predict coherent effects such as a quantum beat caused by the spectrum overlap of the several vibrational–rotational transitions involved in a short-pulse laser spectrum. During amplification, laser pulses experience some nonlinear effects caused by the complex gain spectrum structure and by the coherent interactions; thus a considerable change in the laser pulse shape and a substantial reduction in the duration of the amplified laser pulse are predicted. The Frantz–Nodvik equation in the rate-equation limit and even single-level Maxwell–Bloch equations are not applicable for short-pulse propagation analyses in inhomogeneously broadened gain media.