Abstract

Recent calculations have shown that atomic coherence can lead to an index of refraction at frequencies of vanishing absorption many magnitudes larger than possible before.^[1] Several coherence-establishing schemes have been proposed and investigated. However, results were obtained only for the linear susceptibility. But as the effect takes place in the vicinity of an atomic resonance, high nonlinearities are to be expected.^[2] For certain applications, for example the laser accelerator,^[3] a high testfield intensity is necessary, leading to nonlinear effects.

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