Strong amplification of sidebands in a four-level atomic system interacting with a strong bichromatic field.

Abstract

We have studied the fluorescent spectra arising from the interaction of a four-level atom with a strong bichromatic field and a weak signal field simultaneously. The atomic system consists of two upper excited states \ensuremath{\Vert}3〉 and \ensuremath{\Vert}4〉 and two lower states \ensuremath{\Vert}1〉 and \ensuremath{\Vert}2〉 and the two laser fields, whose frequency modes ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{a}$ and ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{b}$ are initially populated, operate between the states \ensuremath{\Vert}2〉\ensuremath{\leftrightarrows}\ensuremath{\Vert}4〉 and \ensuremath{\Vert}2〉\ensuremath{\leftrightarrows}\ensuremath{\Vert}3〉, respectively. Using the Green-function formalism and a model Hamiltonian, where all the free and interacting fields are quantized, we have studied the transitions \ensuremath{\Vert}4〉\ensuremath{\leftrightarrows}\ensuremath{\Vert}1〉 and \ensuremath{\Vert}3〉\ensuremath{\leftrightarrows}\ensuremath{\Vert}1〉 of the signal field in the limit of high photon densities of both laser fields. The expression of the spectral function for the \ensuremath{\Vert}1〉\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\Vert}4〉 transition describes stimulated one-photon and three-photon processes, respectively. The one-photon spectra near the frequency \ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\approxeq}${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{41}$ of the signal field consist of a central peak and two pairs of sidebands whose intensities take always positive and negative values indicating that attenuation and amplification (stimulated emission) of the signal field takes place at the frequencies in question, respectively. The spectral function for the three-photon process near the frequency \ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\approxeq}${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{41}$-2${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{a}$ describes two pairs of sidebands whose intensities are always negative implying that strong amplification of the signal field occurs. The computed one-photon and three-photon spectra are presented graphically for different values of Rabi frequencies and detunings of both laser fields, respectively. Then using a classical description of both laser fields, the spectral functions describing one-photon and three-photon processes are calculated and the derived results are compared with the corresponding ones when the fields are quantized. It is found that the results obtained when the fields are quantized and in the limit of high photon densities describe the classical as well as the quantum nature of the photons which is lost in the classical treatment.