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Dynamics of refractive-index changes and two-beam coupling in resonant media

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Abstract

The dynamics of light-induced change in the refractive index of a resonant medium are examined. For illumination with weak fields, the two relevant relaxation times are T 1, the population lifetime and T 2, the dipole-dephasing time. The response time of the index change is determined by the slower relaxation time of the medium which is usually the time T 1 taken by the excited system to relax back to its thermal equilibrium value. Illumination with two beams of the same frequency that intersect within the medium leads to the formation of a volume grating in the medium that is spatially local. Hence there is no exchange of energy between the beams that write the grating, each beam merely reducing the absorption experienced by the other beam. Illumination with a moving, spatially periodic intensity pattern leads to gain for one beam and additional absorption for the other beam as they propagate through the medium. A complete set of coupled equations describing the intensities and phases of the beams undergoing non-degenerate two-wave mixing in the resonant media is derived using third-order perturbation theory, and the solutions are studied numerically. In particular, the two-beam coupling constant for intensity is shown to depend on the frequency difference between the two beams and on the pressure-induced collisional relaxations in the system.

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  1. Rockwell International Science Center, 91360, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA

    R. Saxena, I. McMichael & P. Yeh

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  1. R. Saxena
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  2. I. McMichael
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  3. P. Yeh
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Saxena, R., McMichael, I. & Yeh, P. Dynamics of refractive-index changes and two-beam coupling in resonant media. Appl. Phys. B 51, 243–253 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00325043

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