In this article we present a systematic derivation of the Maxwell-Bloch equations describing amplification and laser action in a ring cavity. We derive the Maxwell-Bloch equations for a two-level medium and discuss their applicability to standard three- and four-level systems. After discusing amplification, we consider lasing and pay special attention to the obtention of the laser equations in the uniform field approximation. Finally, the connection of the laser equations with the Lorenz model is considered.
We analyse the dynamics leading to radiative cooling of an atomic ensemble confined inside an optical cavity when the atomic dipolar transitions are incoherently pumped and can synchronize. Our study is performed in the semiclassical regime and assumes that cavity decay is the largest rate in the system dynamics. We identify three regimes characterising the cooling. At first hot atoms are individually cooled by the cavity friction forces. After this stage, the atoms center-of-mass motion is further cooled by the coupling to the internal degrees of freedom while the dipoles synchronize. In the latest stage dipole-dipole correlations are stationary and the center-of-mass motion is determined by the interplay between friction and dispersive forces due to the coupling with the collective dipole. We analyse this asymptotic regime by means of a mean-field model and show that the width of the momentum distribution can be of the order of the photon recoil. Furthermore, the internal excitations oscillate spatially with the cavity standing wave forming an antiferromagnetic-like order.
The explicit semiclassical treatment of logarithmic perturbation theory for the nonrelativistic bound states problem is developed. Based upon $hbar$-expansions and suitable quantization conditions a new procedure for deriving perturbation expansions for the one-dimensional anharmonic oscillator is offered. Avoiding disadvantages of the standard approach, new handy recursion formulae with the same simple form both for ground and exited states have been obtained. As an example, the perturbation expansions for the energy eigenvalues of the harmonic oscillator perturbed by $lambda x^{6}$ are considered.
Breaking the symmetry in a coupled wave system can result in unusual amplification behavior. In the case of difference parametric amplification the resonant pump frequency is equal to the difference, instead of the sum, frequency of the normal modes. We show that sign reversal in the symmetry relation of parametric coupling give rise to difference parametric amplification as a dual of optical parametric amplification. For optical systems, our result can potentially be used for efficient XUV amplification.
We consider the fundamental problem of high temperature phase transitions in the system of high density two-level atoms off-resonantly interacting with a pump field in the presence of optical collisions (OCs) and placed in the cavity. OCs are considered in the framework of thermalization of atomic dressed state (DS) population. For the case of a strong atom-field coupling condition we analyze the problem of thermodynamically equilibrium superradiant phase transition for the order parameter representing a real amplitude of cavity mode and taking place as a result of atomic DSs thermalization process. Such transition is also connected with condensed (coherent) properties of low branch (LB) DS-polaritons occurring in the cavity. For describing non-equilibrium phase transitions we derive Maxwell-Bloch like equations which account for cavity decay rate, collisional decay rate and spontaneous emission. Various aspects of transitions to laser field formation by using atomic DS levels for both positive and negative detuning of a pump field from atomic transition frequency are studied in detail. It is revealed, that for positive atom-light detuning DS lasing can be obtained in the presence of quasi-equilibrium DS population that corresponds to a true two-level atomic system with the inversion in nonresonant limit.
We explore the ability of two-dimensional periodic atom arrays to produce light amplification and generate laser emission when gain is introduced through external optical pumping. Specifically, we predict that lasing can take place for arbitrarily weak atomic scatterers assisted by cooperative interaction among atoms in a 2D lattice. We base this conclusion on analytical theory for three-level scatterers, which additionally reveals a rich interplay between lattice and atomic resonances. Our results provide a general background to understand light amplification and lasing in periodic atomic arrays, with promising applications in the generation, manipulation, and control of coherent photon states at the nanoscale.