Abstract
We consider the excitation spectrum of a three-level atom interacting with an electromagnetic field whose two initially populated modes ω a and ω b are in resonance with two atomic transition frequencies while the remaining unpopulated modes are simultaneously coupled to the atomic states. It is found that at high photon densities, the Green's functions describing the lower and upper systems corresponding to the transition frequencies ω a and ω b respectively are-independent of each other. The spectral functions for the lower and upper systems consist of seven lorentzian lines describing the central peak and three pairs of sidebands where each pair is symmetrically located with respect to the transition frequency. For the lower system, the lines are peaked at frequencies ω = ω a , ω = ω a ± Ω a , ω = ω a ± Ω b and ω = ω a ± Ω ab with radiative widths γa 0/2, 3γa 0/4, (γa 0 + γb 0)/4 and (γa 0 + 3γb 0)/4 respectively, where Ω a and Ω b are the energy shifts of the populated modes ω a and ω b , Ω ab 2 = Ω b 2 + Ω a 2/4 and γa 0/2 is equal to the natural width of a photon spontaneously emitted from an isolated atom. For the upper system, the lines occur at ω = ω b , ω = ω b ± Ω b , ω = ω b ± Ω a and ω = ω b ± Ω ba with radiative widths (γa 0 + γb 0)/2, (γa 0 + 3γb 0)/4, (γa 0 + 2γb 0)/4, and 3γa 0/4 respectively. Relations between Ω a and Ω b are derived for which the heights of the lorentzian lines of the corresponding bands become positive or negative indicating attenuation or amplification of the signal field respectively. It is also shown that when certain relations exist between Ω a and Ω b , the signal field is attenuated in the lower system while it is simultaneously amplified in the upper system at different frequencies and vice versa. Spectral functions of the lower and upper systems are derived and discussed for equally spaced levels and equally populated modes Ω a = Ω b , as well as for the limiting case when Ω b 2 = 3Ω a 2/4 or Ω a 2 = 3Ω b 2/4.