https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2006-00161-8
Propagation of shape-preserving optical pulses in inhomogeneously broadened multi-level systems
1
Department of Physics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, P.R. China
2
Electron and Optical Physics Division, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA
Corresponding author: a gxhuang@phy.ecnu.edu.cn
Received:
21
March
2006
Published online:
12
July
2006
We study stable propagation of multiple shape-preserving optical pulses in an inhomogeneously broadened multi-level atomic medium. By analytically solving the Maxwell-Schrödinger equations governing the evolution of N coupled optical fields and atomic amplitudes we show that N pulsed optical waves coupling to (N+1)-levels can be automatically matched with the same soliton waveform and identical yet very slow propagation velocity. Several sets of coupled soliton solutions for two different (N+1)-level models are given and their stability is studied by using a numerical simulation.
PACS: 42.50.Md – Optical transient phenomena: quantum beats, photon echo, free-induction decay, dephasings and revivals, optical nutation, and self-induced transparency / 42.50.Gy – Effects of atomic coherence on propagation, absorption, and amplification of light; electromagnetically induced transparency and absorption
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2006
