Frequency modulation and transient effects in the resonant propagation of coherent light pulses.

A theoretical analysis of the propagation of near resonant and linearly chirped light pulses through a resonant medium is presented under the restriction that the pulses are far enough off resonance or weak enough so that they do not significantly alter the atomic populations. If the pulses are of duration comparable to or less than the phase memory time T(2) of the atoms, it is found that the transient response of the medium gives rise to amplitude-and phase-modulating effects. Analytic solutions are presented to describe the propagation of an off-resonant pulse which is very short compared with T(2) and an off-resonant rectangular pulse. The evolution of a Gaussian pulse having a positive linear chirp is studied numerically.