An analytical study on absorptive lineshape of a driven N-type open four-level system: Quantum interference effects

An open four-level system of having two pairs of closely spaced levels (N-type configuration) is driven by a single electromagnetic field and tuned resonant with the average frequency of four dipole allowed transitions. Under the Doppler free condition and by using a semiclassical formulation of atom-field interaction for four dipole allowed transitions, we derive the optical Bloch equations for the said four-level system coupled to the driving field. In order to obtain the held induced polarization and hence the absorptive lineshapes, we use the usual perturbation method forgetting the approximate analytical solution to the coupled optical Bloch equations for the density matrix elements. Through the off-diagonal complex density matrix elements, we introduce the field dependent phase angles arising out of the quantum interference between the levels participating in dipole allowed transitions. The difference between the field dependent and field independent phases are pointed out. In particular, we investigate the effects of Rabi frequencies and the field dependent phases on the absorptive lineshape. The analytical expressions for the effective linewidths, effective detunings and the induced polarization clearly indicate the role of quantum interference. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.