Propagation of optically tunable coherent radiation in a gas of polar molecules

Abstract

Coherent, optically dressed media composed of two-level atomic systems without inversion symmetry are considered as all-optically tunable sources of coherent radiation in the microwave to near-infrared domain. Here, a theoretical model and a numerical toolbox are developed to account for buildup and propagation dynamics of such low-frequency impulses in gaseous or bulk media. We discuss the physical mechanisms involved and make a performance study in conditions representative for vapors of heteronuclear diatomic molecules to identify realistic experimental scenarios.

Mbsolve: An open-source solver tool for the Maxwell-Bloch equations

“…Also, extensions of the optical Bloch equations to an arbitrary number of energy levels have been considered [10]. Application examples include the description of light propagation in different media that can be modeled as quantum mechanical systems with two [11][12][13], three [14,15] or six [16] energy levels, respectively. While in earlier studies the media considered were mostly of gaseous form, advances in nanotechnology paved the way for solid state optoelectronic devices that exhibit (at least partially) coherent light-matter interaction, as is adequately described by the Maxwell-Bloch equations [17].…”