Ultrashort pulse propagation in multilevel systems

Journal Article · Tue Nov 15 04:00:00 EST 2005 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.72.0· OSTI ID:20786581

Araujo, Luis E. E. de ^[1]

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1. Instituto de Fisica 'Gleb Wataghin', Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas - SP, 13083-970 (Brazil)

Here, I discuss the propagation of an ultrashort pulse through a collection of harmonic multilevel systems. In the limit of weak excitation and a large number of excited states, I show that the amplitude of the input driving pulse decays exponentially with propagation distance. The absorption coefficient associated with this decay is determined by the characteristic time of the manifold of excited states, instead of the polarization decay time as in the conventional absorption coefficient of a two-level atom. The input ultrashort pulse creates in the excited states a wave packet, which oscillates emitting secondary pulses in the process. Analytic solutions are obtained that describe the propagation of individual wave-packet re-emission pulses, and it is shown that their phase depends on the detuning of the input pulse.

• OSTI ID: 20786581
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 72; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ABSORPTION
AMPLITUDES
ANALYTICAL SOLUTION
ATOMS
DECAY
DISTANCE
EMISSION
EXCITATION
OPTICS
POLARIZATION
PULSES
QUANTUM MECHANICS
RYDBERG STATES
VELOCITY
WAVE PACKETS