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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2009
In all preceding chapters, we have tried to separate the effect of the light on the atoms from the reverse effect, the modification of the light by the atomic medium. In most cases this allows an explicit solution of the equations of motion and provides stable stationary states. In recent years, another approach to the interaction between light and matter has appeared, which emphasises strong coupling between the two. It uses the interactions as a tool to study general aspects of nonlinear dynamics. This chapter provides an introduction to this field, without trying to give a complete summary.
Overview
Resonant vapours as optically nonlinear media
Mutual interactions
So far, we have considered the effect of the laser on the atomic medium separately from the measurement of microscopic dynamics by the polarisation selective detection of transmitted light. In this approximation, the pump laser drives the atoms without suffering significant attenuation or polarisation changes. Conversely, the probe beam, which monitors the optical properties of the atomic medium, changes the microscopic state of the atoms only infinitesimally. This approach guarantees, e.g., that the response of the medium to the probe beam is linear. As stressed before, this assumption of one-sided interactions is always an approximation, since the conservation of energy and angular momentum make it impossible to change either of the two partial systems without compensating changes in the other part.
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