Two-Photon Absorption from a Phase Diffusing Laser Field

Daniel S. Elliott, M. W. Hamilton, K. Arnett +1 more

Daniel S. Elliott, M. W. Hamilton, K. Arnett +1 more

Jacek Chrostowski, T Warenycia

A study is made of the efficiency of two-photon absorption of a two-mode laser field with phase diffusion. Numerical computer calculations are reported.

Daniel S. Elliott, M. W. Hamilton, K. Arnett +1 more

We report the first quantitative measurements of the effect of a phase-diffusing laser field on a nonlinear optical interaction. Using a nearly Lorentzian laser power spectrum, we have measured the spectral linewidth of an unsaturated two-photon absorption process. We find that the measured width scales as four times the laser width, in agreement with the theoretical predictions of Mollow.

Moorad Alexanian, S. Bose

Gordon N. Sinclair, Xiaoyi Bao, Daniel S. Elliott +1 more

Measurements of two-photon absorption spectra have been made for the case where the exciting laser has a random-telegraph phase. The resulting spectral shapes are compared to theoretical predictions and to previous data taken with a phase-diffusing laser field [Elliott et al., Phys. Rev. A 32, 887 (1985)]. A striking dependence of the absorption spectrum on the second-order coherence of the field was observed. Using the theory for the propagation of second-order spatial coherence, we draw an analogy between diffraction and two-photon absorption which we use to interpret the two-photon absorption spectra.