Coherent control of nondegenerate two-photon absorption by femtosecond laser pulses

Abstract

We investigate the dynamics of nondegenerate two-photon absorption in a cascade three-level system induced by two-color femtosecond laser pulses. It is demonstrated that optimal one-photon detunings of the field frequencies from the intermediate state can be used to control coherently the population inversion between the uppermost and the ground states. The propagation effects make the situation much more complicated. Our simulation shows the possibility of an optical soliton behavior of the two-color pulse with the help of the one-photon detuning.

Keywords:

• coherent control
• nondegenerate two-photon absorption
• femtosecond two-color laser pulses
• population inversion
• optical soliton

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support from the National Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 11204078 and 11247308, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. J.-C.L. is sponsored by the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry.