About cookies on this site Our websites require some cookies to function properly (required). In addition, other cookies may be used with your consent to analyze site usage, improve the user experience and for advertising. For more information, please review your options. By visiting our website, you agree to our processing of information as described in IBM’sprivacy statement. To provide a smooth navigation, your cookie preferences will be shared across the IBM web domains listed here.
Publication
Applied Physics Letters
Paper
Theory of the dispersive modulator
Abstract
The recent observations by Loy of amplitude modulation and compression of infrared laser pulses caused by passage through the dispersive modulator (a cell containing dilute NH3 vapor with a Stark-modulated resonant frequency) are explained. It is shown that there is a formal equivalence between (i) the passage of a near-resonant light beam through a vapor with a time-dependent resonant frequency, and (ii) the passage of a frequency-modulated light beam through a vapor with a constant resonant frequency. For low-intensity light this equivalence reduces the problem to the optical analog of chirp radar.