SPACE-TIME COHERENCES INDUCED BY ULTRASHORT ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSES

In femtosecond laser-pulse experiments the pump pulse, with duration comparable or shorter than a typical period of intra- or intermolecular vibrations, creates a nonstationary wave packet. In this paper we use the density-matrix method to analyze creation of space-time coherences by the pump pulse and their effect on the probe pulse. Expressions for the density-matrix jumps, induced by the probe pulse, have been obtained in a general case. The material equations, determining propagation of the probe pulse, have been derived. © 1990 American Institute of Physics.