Tri-level Echo in the Case of Exciting Pulses with Arbitrary Shapes

Abstract

In the limit of small exciting light-pulse areas the amplitude and polarization of the tri-level photon echo in gases formed by the exciting pulses with arbitrary shapes are obtained. It is shown that the dependence of the tri-level photon echo signal on the mutual orientation of the exciting pulse polarization vectors may be used to determine the optical coherence-matrix relaxation characteristics for an optically forbidden transition. The conditions under which a tri-level photon echo pulse repeats the shape of each of the exciting pulses are defined. It is proved that the tri-level photon-echo polarization properties do not depend on the shapes of the exciting pulses, either for small light-pulse areas or for the tri-level echo formation on narrow spectral lines.