Frequency modulated few-cycle optical pulse trains induced controllable ultrafast coherent population oscillations in three-level atomic systems

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how frequency modulated few-cycle optical pulse trains can induce and control ultrafast coherent population oscillations in two-level atomic systems, with potential applications in quantum state preparation and optical switching.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical study of UCPO induced by frequency modulated pulse trains, showing control over atomic states and oscillation frequency beyond the rotating wave approximation.

Findings

UCPO can be controlled by pulse number and repetition time.

Population inversion is robust against pulse parameter variations.

Potential for ultrafast optical switching applications.

Abstract

We report a study on the ultrafast coherent population oscillations (UCPO) in two level atoms induced by the frequency modulated few-cycle optical pulse train. The phenomenon of UCPO is investigated by numerically solving the optical Bloch equations beyond the rotating wave approximation. We demonstrate that the quantum state of the atoms and the frequency of UCPO may be controlled by controlling the number of pulses in the pulse trains and the pulse repetition time respectively. Moreover, the robustness of the population inversion against the variation of the laser pulse parameters is also investigated. The proposed scheme may be useful for the creation of atoms in selected quantum state for desired time duration and may have potential applications in ultrafast optical switching.