Coherent control and phase locking of two-photon processes in the nanosecond domain

Qun Zhang, Mark Keil, Moshe Shapiro

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

We demonstrate phase locking between two pairs of nanosecond laser pulses generated from independent sources. We achieve phase locking experimentally by separately mixing two uncorrelated dye lasers of frequencies ω 1(a) and ω1(b), with a common beam of frequency ω0, thereby generating two additional frequencies ω2(b) ≡ ω1 (a) + ω0 and ω2(a) ≡ ω1(b) + ω0. We demonstrate that there are well-defined phase relationships between any two-photon process using the ω1(a) and the ω2 (a) pair of frequencies versus any two-photon process that uses the ω1(b) and the ω2(b) pair. In particular, interference between the two identical sum frequencies ωtotal = ω1(a) + ω 2(a) and ωtotal = ω 1(b) + ω2(b), which we generate in a separate pair of mixing crystals, yields stable interference fringes with measured modulation depths of ±40%. Well-defined phase relationships are especially useful for two-photon versus two-photon coherent control experiments. In addition, the system can be used to transport, with a high degree of stability, the phase of a given input laser frequency ω0 to higher frequencies ωtotal by use of carrier lasers that need not be correlated.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2255-2261
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics
Volume20
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2003
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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