Ultrafast optical spectroscopy of spectral fluctuations in a dense atomic vapor

Transient four-wave mixing experiments with 100 fs pulses in a dense potassium vapor probe the electronic energy fluctuations that lead to optical decoherence. Echo-peak shift experiments yield a biexponential two-time correlation function of energy level fluctuations. Molecular dynamics simulations...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2008-01, Vol.100 (1), p.013603-013603, Article 013603
Main Authors: Lorenz, V O, Mukamel, S, Zhuang, W, Cundiff, S T
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Transient four-wave mixing experiments with 100 fs pulses in a dense potassium vapor probe the electronic energy fluctuations that lead to optical decoherence. Echo-peak shift experiments yield a biexponential two-time correlation function of energy level fluctuations. Molecular dynamics simulations show that the slow component is a many-body excitonic contribution arising from long-range resonant interactions. The decay of the correlation function occurs on comparable time scales in theory and experiment.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.013603