Amplification of extremely short pulses in optical media

The dynamics of pulses with durations comparable to the inverse transition frequency that propagate in an optical medium is studied in terms of two integrable systems of Maxwell-Bloch equations. The first model describes the field interaction with a nondegenerate medium with a permanent dipole moment and permanent external pumping. A general formula is derived for the N-soliton solution. Particular solutions are used as examples to investigate the effect of permanent dipole moment and pumping on the soliton dynamics. The second model describes the interaction between two-component electric-field pulses and a two-level degenerate medium with permanent upper-level pumping. For different initial magnetic-sublevel populations, soliton solutions are used as examples to show that pumping causes a change in polarization dynamics. A two-soliton solution is used to analyze the interaction of solitons in a two-level medium with external pumping.