Abstract

We consider the effect of a background dielectric on the steady-state propagation of a laser pulse through inhomogeneously broadened two-level atoms embedded in the dielectric. Because this problem apparently does not admit of analytic solutions, we have solved it numerically. A comparison of our results with the known analytic solutions for the homogeneously broadened atomic line shows that the two are similar. It seems that the new numerical solutions, unlike those for the homogeneous line, are not factorable, a fact to which we ascribe the difficulty in finding analytic solutions. We have found that as the atomic line broadens, the pulse widens and its height decreases, maintaining its area virtually constant.

© 1988 Optical Society of America

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