Abstract

We present a numerical study of the nonsteady state pulse propagation in a resonant inhomogeneously broadened absorber embedded in a dielectric medium with a Kerr-type nonlinearity. We abandon the a priori assumption for the existence of steady state solutions and examine the problem from a more physical point of view, i.e., we study the way in which the pulse actually propagates in the resonant Kerr medium and whether it eventually evolves toward a steady state. We find that the individual atomic dipoles are dephased and that their evolution depends on detunings. We believe that this is the reason for small energy losses which deny the attainment of a truly steady state pulse.

© 1989 Optical Society of America