Quantum erasing of laser emission in N${}_2^{+}$

Abstract

Cavity-free lasing of N${}_2^{+}$ induced by a femtosecond laser pulse at 800~nm is nearly totally suppressed by a delayed twin pump pulse. We explain this surprising effect within the V-scheme of lasing without population inversion. A fast transfer of population between nitrogen ionic states X${}^2{\Sigma }_g^{+}$ and A${}^2{\Pi }_u$, induced by the second pulse, terminates the conditions for amplification in the system. Appearance of short lasing bursts at delays corresponding to revivals of rotational wave packets are explained along the same lines.

References in corpus (5)

• Population Redistribution among Multiple Electronic States of Molecular Nitrogen Ions in Strong Laser Fields
• Recollision induced superradiance of ionized nitrogen molecules
• Self-seeded lasing in ionized air pumped by 800 nm femtosecond laser pulses
• Remote creation of strong and coherent emissions in air with two-color ultrafast laser pulses
• Transient gain from $N_2^{+}$ in light filaments