Four-wave parametric interaction in potassium vapor

Abstract

Two simultaneous laser pulses incident on a cell of potassium vapor at 350°C generate an intense (1-kW) beam of violet light at about 4000 Å. The incident pulses are a 2-MW ruby beam and a 300-kW ruby-generated Stokes beam nearly resonant with the potassium 4P <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3/2</sup> - 4S <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1/2</sup> transition. A simplified theory is presented which treats the problem as a four-wave parametric interaction, and accounts for such experimental details as the doublet stucture of the violet light and the fact that the components of the doublet have different intensities.