SOLITARY-WAVE VELOCITY SELECTION IN SELF-INDUCED TRANSPARENCY

We consider self-induced transparency beyond the slowly varying envelope approximation. For a carrier wave of given frequency, we show that the possible steady-state pulse velocities form a discrete set, qualitatively changing the previous picture of self-induced transparency. The selection mechanism cannot be seen in a perturbative expansion about the slowly varying envelope approximation. © 1990 The American Physical Society.