An analytical expression for the degenerate four-wave mixing signal produced in a medium composed of two-level atoms by pump and probe lasers of arbitrary intensities and parallel linear polarization, suffering negligible absorption and depletion, has been derived. The Abrams–Lind approach [Opt. Lett. 2, 94 and 3, 205 (1978)] for deriving the phase-matched polarization has been extended to find all the other higher-order polarization terms contributing to the signal. The signal field amplitude is expressed as an infinite series whose convergence rate depends on the intensity of the input fields and their detuning from resonance. The solution is successfully verified by comparison with a full numerical nonperturbative calculation and is found to be equivalent to the Abrams–Lind result in the limit of weak probe intensity. The result is used to calculate the saturation effects on spectral line shape that are relevant to simulation of molecular spectra obtained by degenerate four-wave mixing with saturating pump and probe fields. The result is extended to treat atomic motion in the case of forward geometry of the input beams.

© 1999 Optical Society of America

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Citation lists with outbound citation links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Article level metrics are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

Related Journal Articles

• Nonlinear optical properties of GaSb and GaInAsSb and their application for phase conjugation in degenerate four-wave mixing (JOSAB)
• Nonlinear phase shift resulting from two-color multistep cascading (JOSAB)
• Interference effects in time-delayed degenerate four-wave mixing with broadband noisy light (JOSAB)
• Polarization-state beating in four-wave-mixing experiments on ZnSe epilayers (JOSAB)
• Level-splitting effects in resonant four-wave mixing (OL)

Related Conference Papers

• Enhancement of field generation via maximal atomic coherence prepared by fast adiabatic passage in Rb vapor
• Spectral narrowing of phase broadened optical field in coherently prepared medium
• Nonlinear optics as novel probes of molecular chirality
• Multi-Channel Fiber-Based Source of Polarization Entangled Photons with Integrated Alignment Signal
• Multi-Channel Fiber-Based Source of Polarization Entangled Photons with Integrated Alignment Signal
• Phase Preserving Wavelength Conversion over 6 THz in a Silicon Coupled Resonator Optical Waveguide
• Phase Preserving Wavelength Conversion over 6 THz in a Silicon Coupled Resonator Optical Waveguide