Dopplerons are the signature of the nonlinear response of moving atoms driven by a continuous standing-wave laser beam. They display maxima on the velocity-dependent atomic population difference at velocities nearly equal to ±(c/ω)[(δω² + 2Ω²)^1/2/(2p + 1)], where Ω is the Rabi frequency associated with an individual beam field and δω is the detuning between the driving frequency and the center of the Doppler linewidth. Probing the device with a weak signal yields gain for Doppler broadenings of the magnitude of the detuning, exclusively on the atomic-resonance-frequency side, with a maximum shifted from the driving frequency by the generalized Rabi frequency associated with a standing wave, defined by (δω² + 4Ω²)^1/2. The existence of dopplerons is demonstrated by peaks occurring at frequencies shifted from the driving frequency by even harmonics of doppleron frequencies. The intensity of the peaks is shown to depend on the Doppler width, and the complexity of the gain curve is shown to increase as the pump intensity does.

© 1994 Optical Society of America

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