Population dynamics of a two-channel, three-level system interacting with three classical fields
Christopher C. Gerry · Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics · 1993
The population of a three-level system in the lambda configuration interacting with three classical fields is studied. The system is essentially a Raman coupled system with pump, Stokes and anti-Stokes fields. One channel between the two ground states involves the pump and Stokes field while the other involves the pump and anti-Stokes field. Since exact solutions are not generally available the author studies the dynamics numerically. But when the excited state is highly detuned, it may be adiabatically removed so that the system becomes effectively a two-level system but with an effective Rabi frequency that depends on the relative phases of the driving fields. For some choices of the phases this frequency can be made to vanish, an effect of the interference between the two channels. For the special case of equal and opposite detunings, an exact solution of the full three-level equations is presented. The effects of ionization of the excited state are also briefly considered.