Lasing without inversion

Lasing without inversion (LWI),[1] or lasing without population inversion, is a technique used for light amplification by stimulated emission without the requirement of population inversion.[2] A laser working under this scheme exploits the quantum interference between the probability amplitudes of atomic transitions in order to eliminate absorption without disturbing the stimulated emission.[3] This phenomenon is also the essence of electromagnetically induced transparency.[4]

The basic LWI concept was first predicted by Ali Javan in 1956.[5][6] The first demonstration of LWI was carried out by Marlan Scully in an experiment in rubidium and sodium at Texas A&M University, and then at NIST in Boulder.[7]

References

1. Marvin J. Weber. Handbook of Lasers. CRC Press. 2019. p. 1151. ISBN 978-1-4200-5017-2.
2. Harris, S. E. (1989). "Lasers without inversion: Interference of lifetime-broadened resonances". Physical Review Letters. 62 (9): 1033–1036. Bibcode:1989PhRvL..62.1033H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.62.1033. PMID 10040407.
3. Mompart, J.; Corbalán, R. (2000). "Lasing without inversion" (PDF). J. Opt. B. 2 (3): R7 – R24. Bibcode:2000JOptB...2R...7M. doi:10.1088/1464-4266/2/3/201. S2CID 121209763. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-01-01.
4. Scully, M., & Zubairy, M. (1997). Chapter 7. In Quantum optics (p. 220). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5. Scully, M., & Zubairy, M. (1997). Chapter 7. In Quantum optics (p. 245). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6. A. Javan, Phys. Rev. 107, 1579 (1956)
7. Javan, A. (2000). "On knowing Marlan". In Ode to a quantum physicist: A festschrift in honor of Marlan O. Scully. Elsevier.