Excitation of two-level atoms in mode-locked laser fields

Abstract

The excitation of two-level atoms in a laser field comprising many equally spaced coupled laser modes corresponding to a coherent pulse train is examined. The atom-field interaction is analysed via the optical Bloch equations for a rotating wave. In the limit of weak excitation they can be solved analytically and the time-averaged atomic excitation turns out to be a linear superposition of the contributions from the individual laser modes. Thus excitation spectra simply reflect the mode structure of the laser spectrum. Excitation spectra for strong fields are obtained by numerical integration of the optical Bloch equations. They exhibit a saturation behaviour differing significantly from the well known single-mode case. The temporal evolution towards the steady state is calculated for several numerical examples to clarify the origin of this behavior. For achieving maximum excitation, the laser pulse area, as in the single-pulse case, should be an odd multiple of π, and the mode spacing (pulse repetition rate) should exceed the natural linewidth of the atomic transition considerably. Under these conditions the time-averaged excited-state population approaches 1/2 while saturation broadening ensures nearly frequency-independent excitation within an extended fraction of the laser bandwidth.