TABLE OF CONTENTS P. R. Berman and D. G. Steel
Physics Department
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
This chapter is dedicated to Richard G. Brewer, a pioneer in coherent optical transients, a mentor and a friend.
| E( R, t) | electric field vector | |
| E( t) | electric field amplitude | |
| ? | field frequency | |
 | field phase | |
| ? 0 | atomic transition frequency | |
 | average atomic transition frequency | |
| ? | atom-field detuning | |
| ? 0 | average atom-field detuning | |
| ? 0( t) | Rabi frequency | |
| ?( t) | pseudofield vector | |
| ?( t) | generalized Rabi frequency | |
| U( t) | Bloch vector | |
| ? ij( Z, t) | density matrix element in a field interaction representation | |
 | density matrix element in normal representation | |
| ( u, v, w) | elements of Bloch vector | |
| ? | transverse relaxation rate | |
| ? 2 | excited-state decay rate or longitudinal relaxation rate | |
| P( R, t) | polarization vector | |
| k | field propagation vector | |
| E S( Z, t) | complex signal electric field amplitude |
| P( Z, t) | complex polarization field amplitude | |
 | atomic density | |
| L | sample length | |
| | dipole moment matrix element | |
| ?, ? ref | pulse durations | |
| ? | pulse area | |
| ? | difference between local and average transition frequency in a solid | |
| W f( ?) | distribution of frequencies in a solid | |
| ? w | width of W f( ? |
