Abstract

We study the influence of shaping the phase of the optical field when time-delayed femtosecond pulse pairs excite a sequential two-photon transition in rubidium atoms. Propagation through this optically dense medium modifies the pulse profile. When an external phase is introduced into one of the pulses, partial cancellation of the two-photon absorption signal is observed for temporal delays much greater than the pulse duration. This behavior is qualitatively explained in terms of a negative group delay.

© 2005 Optical Society of America

Two-photon absorption and self-phase modulation measurements with shaped femtosecond laser pulses

Martin C. Fischer, Tong Ye, Gunay Yurtsever, Anthony Miller, Maria Ciocca, Wolfgang Wagner, and Warren S. Warren
Opt. Lett. 30(12) 1551-1553 (2005)

Optical selectivity in optically dense media driven by optimized Gaussian-type ultrashort pulse pairs

Han Xu and Heping Zeng
Opt. Lett. 30(10) 1198-1200 (2005)

Ultrasensitive femtosecond two-photon detector with resonantly enhanced nonlinear absorption

Harald Schneider, Thomas Maier, H. C. Liu, Martin Walther, and Peter Koidl
Opt. Lett. 30(3) 287-289 (2005)

Quantum interference in atomic vapor observed by four-wave mixing with incoherent light

J. Ferraz, D. Felinto, L. H. Acioli, and S. S. Vianna
Opt. Lett. 30(14) 1876-1878 (2005)

Storage and release of femtosecond laser pulses in a resonant photonic crystal

Jianying Zhou, Huiguo Shao, Ji Zhao, Xiangyang Yu, and K. S. Wong
Opt. Lett. 30(12) 1560-1562 (2005)