Coherent transient optical pulse-shape storage/recall using frequency-swept excitation pulses

We demonstrate that frequency-chirped laser excitation pulses may be employed to generate coherent transient signals possessing the same temporal profile as a particular excitation pulse. In comparison with the short, fixedfrequency pulses used in previous studies of this effect, chirped pulses can be temporally longer, of lower intensity, and hence easier to generate. The experiment was performed on the 555.6-nm transition of vapor-phase atomic ytterbium, and pulse-shape information was stored in a coherence between excited-state Zeeman levels. A simple theoretical analysis of our results is presented.