Two symmetric four-wave mixing signals induced by beams with nonuniform distributions

Abstract

We present a theoretical analysis of the spatial shape (transverse and longitudinal) of two degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) signals induced by fields Ea and Eb, with nonuniform transverse profiles, and wave-vectors ka and kb. The two signals are generated in a cold sample of two-level atoms, in the forward directions 2ka − kb and 2kb − ka. In all cases, the transverse shapes of the generated signals (both near- and far-field) are dictated by the projection of the nonlinear coherence onto the Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) function space. Our calculations show that the longitudinal profile of each generated beam is affected by the spectral characteristics of the medium, described by the third order nonlinear susceptibility. For Gaussian incident fields with equal detunings from resonance, the FWM beam shapes are completely symmetric, with an asymmetry induced by different detunings of incident fields. By considering incident beams with LG distributions, the topological charge conservation determines the orbital angular momentum of each signal and the longitudinal profiles show similar behaviors to the case with Gaussian beams. The phase discontinuities of LG modes reveal a rotation and distortion of the phase distribution of the FWM beams caused by the detunings. We discuss for selected configurations, the relations between both generated beams and their propagation properties. We also present preliminary experimental results of the power spectra of the two FWM signals generated in our magneto-optical trap of rubidium atoms.