A nonlinear theory of laser noise and coherence. II

Hermann Haken

Victor Korenman

Aihua Zhang

Coherent nonlinear effects such as Electromagnetically Induced Transparency\n(EIT), Coherent Population Trapping (CPT), and Slow light are studied in thermal\nRb vapor by both continuous and pulsed laser fields. This work primarily includes\nthree parts: (I) mode-locked rubidium laser and its applications (II) enhanced coupling\nbetween optical and sound waves in the forward direction via ultra-slow light\n(III) optical steering via ultra-slow light in rubidium vapor.\nIn part(I), I describe the construction and study of a mode-locked rubidium laser\noperating at the Rb D1 line using an active mode-locking technique inside the laser\ncavity. The mode-locked laser field is used to observe coherent effects in a dense\nrubidium gas.\nIn part(II), I experimentally demonstrate enhanced acoustic-optic coupling that\noccurs when the velocity of sound is close to the group velocity of light. Dragging of\nthe light by effective motion of the gas in a Rb cell is the origin of enhanced coupling.\nGood agreement between theory and experiment is found.\nIn part(III), I experimentally demonstrate optical beam deflection in coherently\ndriven rubidium vapor due to the steep refraction index profile in the region of EIT.

Jacques Arnaud

Ning Lü, János A. Bergou

A quantum theory of a two-level single-mode laser with injected atomic coherence is developed by generalizing the Scully-Lamb laser theory to a form appropriate for the analysis of a coherently pumped laser. We assume that the active atoms are prepared initially in a coherent superposition of the upper and lower levels, and we derive the master equation for the field density operator by treating the interaction of the laser field with many active atoms simultaneously. It is shown that the photon-number distribution can be exactly Poissonian. The laser operation is analyzed in terms of the Fokker-Planck equation for the laser field. Both the intensity and phase diffusion coefficients are phase sensitive and, for stable laser operation, become much smaller than those of an ordinary laser. Consequently, the injected atomic coherence reduces both the photon-number noise and phase noise simultaneously. The intensity diffusion coefficient can vanish exactly, and at the same time the phase diffusion coefficient can become very small. This leads to spontaneous-emission noise quenching in the photon-number distribution, and the laser field can become very close to a coherent state. A scheme to generate the proper form of the initial atomic coherence necessary for the quantum noise quenching is proposed and analyzed.

Joseph H. Eberly, L. Mandeļ, E. Wolf

W1 Resonant Pulse Propagation I.- W1-1 Some Nonlinear Properties of Pulse Propagation.- W1-2 Self-Induced Transparency in the Broadline and Narrowline Limits and Applications.- W1-3 Observation of Zero-Degree Pulse Propagation in a Resonant Medium.- W1-4 Higher Conservation Laws and Coherent Pulse Propagation.- W2 Quantum Electrodynamics and Alternative Theories I.- W2-1 Survey of the Present Status of Neoclassical Radiation Theory.- W2-2 A Test of Jaynes' Neoclassical Theory: Incoherent Resonance Fluorescence from a Coherently Excited State.- W2-3 Experimental Limitations to the Validity of Semiclassical Radiation Theories.- W2-4 Time Delay Statistics of Photoelectric Emissions: An Experimental Test of Classical Radiation Theory.- W3 Coherence Effects in Spontaneous Emission I.- W3-1 Non-Linear Radiation Reaction.- W3-2 Master Equations in the Theory of Incoherent and Coherent Spontaneous Emission.- W3-3 Influence of Resonant Frequency Shifts on Superradiant Damping.- W3-4 Spontaneous Emission Rate in the Presence of a Mirror.- W4 Coherence I.- W4-1 Atomic Coherent States in Quantum Optics.- W4-2 Coherent States in Modern Physics.- W4-3 Debye Representation and Multipole Expansion of the Quantized Free Electromagnetic Field.- W4-4 Volume of Coherence.- T1 Quantum Electrodynamics and Alternative Theories II.- T1-1 A Quantum Treatment of Spontaneous Emission without Photons.- T1-2 Finite Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics.- T1-3 The Use of Classical Solutions in Quantum Optics.- T1-4 Raman Effect in Semiclassical Theory.- T2 Light Scattering I.- T2-1 Theory of Resonant Light Scattering Processes in Solids.- T2-2 A Generalized Extinction Theorem and Its Role in Scattering Theory.- T2-3 Mode Analysis and Mode Coupling of Electromagnetic Fields in Spatially Dispersive Media.- T2-4 Amplitude Stabilization of Pulses from a Q-Switched Ruby Laser by Means of Interaction with a Non-Linear Medium.- T3 Correlation and Fluctuation Measurements.- T3-1 Two-Photon Time Distributions in Mixed Light Beams.- T3-2 Photocounting Inversion in Presence of Dead Time Effects.- T3-3 Image Reconstruction from the Modulus of the Correlation Function: A Practical Approach to the Phase Problem of Coherence Theory.- T3-4 Photon-Correlation Spectroscopy.- T3-5 Multi-Time Intervals Distributions of Photoelectrons from Stationary Pseudo-Thermal Light with Gaussian Spectrum.- T4 Light Scattering II.- T4-1 Adventures in Green's Land: Light Scattering in Anisotropic Media.- T4-2 Intensity Fluctuation Techniques in Light Scattering.- T4-3 Coherence Properties of Light through a Liquid Crystal.- T4-4 C. Non-Critical Rayleigh Scattering from Pure Liquids.- T5 Coherence Effects in Spontaneous Emission II.- T5-1 Cooperative Effects in Spontaneous Emission.- T5-2 Amplified Spontaneous Emission.- T5-3 Non-Gaussian Statistics of Superradiant Radiation from Saturated Xenon 3.5?m Laser Amplifier.- T5-4 On the Theory of Radiating Electrons.- T6 Coherent Light Interactions.- T6-1 Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy by Saturation with Coherent Light.- T6-2 Response Functions for Strongly Driven Systems.- T6-3 Mechanism of Interaction of Picosecond Light Pulses with Matter Yielding Self-Trapping.- T6-4 Resonance Fluorescence Lineshapes with Intense Applied Fields.- T6-5 Electron Beams as Carriers of Optical Coherence.- T7 Lasers.- T7-1 Detuned Single Mode Laser and Detailed Balance.- T7-2 Tunable Raman Lasers.- T7-3 Dye Lasers: Recent Advances in Tunable Systems.- F1 Quantum Electrodynamics and Alternative Theories III.- F1-1 A Theory of Light without Photons: Implications from Fermis to Light Years.- F1-2 Blackbody Heat Capacity and Action-at-a-Distance Electrodynamics.- F1-3 The Implications of Radiative Equilibrium in Jaynes' Extension of Semiclassical Radiation Theory.- F1-4 A Quantum Electrodynamic Investigation of the Jaynes-Crisp-Stroud Approach to Spontaneous Emission.- F1-5 Critical Comments on Radiation Theory.- F2 Resonant Pulse Propagation II.- F2-1 Cooperative Phenomena in Resonant Propagation.- F2-2 Theory of Sub-Cooperation-Limit Optical Pulses in Resonant Absorbers.- F2-3 Multiple Pulse Chirping in Self-Induced Transparency.- F2-4 Coupled Superradiance Master Equations: Application to Fluctuations in Coherent Pulse Propagation in Resonant Media.- F3 Coherence II.- F3-1 The Laser-Phase Transition Analogy - Recent Developments.- F3-2 Multiple-Time-Scale Analysis of Coherent Radiation.- F3-3 Orthogonal Operators and Phase Space Distributions in Quantum Optics.- F4 Coherence Effects in Spontaneous Emission III.- F4-1 Radiation by Many Excited Atoms between Mirrors.- F4-2 Transient Coherent Emission.- F4-3 Superradiance from a System of 3-Level Particles.- F4-4 A Quantum Electrodynamic View of Superradiance as a Competition between Stimulated and Spontaneous Atomic Decay.- F5 Post Deadline Session.- F5-1 Third- and Higher-Order Intensity Correlations in Laser Light.- F5-2 Correlation Function of a Laser Beam near Threshold.- F5-3 Localization of Photons.- F5-4 Adiabatic Following and the Self-Defocusing of Light in Rubidium Vapor.- F5-5 Experimental Evidence of an X-Ray Laser.- F5-6 Quantum Theory of Photodetection and Coherence Properties of Electrons.- F5-7 Statistics of Light Scattered by Non-Gaussian Fluctuations.- F6 Quantum Noise.- F6-1 Unified Thermodynamics of Dissipative Structures and Coherence in Nonlinear Optics.- F6-2 The Approach to Thermal Equilibrium in Systems of Coupled Quantum Oscillators Initially in a Generalized Gaussian State.- F6-3 Comparison between Incoherent and Chaotic Sources: Contribution to the Study of the Origin of Bunching Effect.- F6-4 Self-Pulsing in Laser Amplification of Broadband Noise.- Author Index.