Optical precursors in transparent media

Journal Article · Wed Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.80.011803· OSTI ID:21313184

Macke, Bruno; Segard, Bernard ^[1]

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1. Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Atomes et Molecules (PhLAM), Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Lasers et Applications, CNRS et Universite Lille 1, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq (France)

We theoretically study the linear propagation of a stepwise pulse through a dilute dispersive medium when the frequency of the optical carrier coincides with the center of a natural or electromagnetically induced transparency window of the medium (slow-light systems). We obtain fully analytical expressions of the entirety of the step response and show that, for parameters representative of real experiments, Sommerfeld-Brillouin precursors, main field and second precursors ('postcursors') can be distinctly observed, all with amplitudes comparable to that of the incident step. This behavior strongly contrasts with that of the systems generally considered up to now.

• OSTI ID: 21313184
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 80; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AMPLITUDES
CARRIERS
MATERIALS
OPACITY
PRECURSOR
PULSES
VISIBLE RADIATION