On the propagation of a light pulse in the “transparency window” of a medium with population inversion

Resumo

The propagation of a light pulse through a layer of a substance with population inversion and, correspondingly, with an anomalous dispersion in the transparency range is considered. It is shown that, when the wave packet approaches the layer of the substance with a strong anomalous dispersion, two additional wave packets arise at the rear boundary of the layer. One of these packets has a negative energy and moves in the layer from its rear to the front boundary, while the other packet moves away from the rear boundary of the layer into a vacuum. As the initial wave packet comes into contact with the front boundary of the layer of the substance, it meets the packet of the negative energy. As a result, the two packets annihilate one another, after which only one packet remains, which moves away from the layer.