Bloch decay spectroscopy

In the case of coherent laser light, the pulses are characterized by well-defined phase relationships and slowly varying amplitudes (Haken, 1970). Such quasi-classical light pulses have spectral and temporal distributions that are also strictly related by a Fourier transformation, and are hence usually refered to as Fourier-transform-limited. They are required in the typical experiments of coherent optical spectroscopy, such as optical nutation, free induction decay, or photon echoes (Brewer, 1977). Here, the theoretical treatments generally adopt a semiclassical procedure, using a density matrix or Bloch formalism to describe the molecular system subject to a pulsed or continuous classical optical field, which generates a macroscopic sample polarization. In principle, a fully quantal description is possible if one represents the state of the field by the coherent or quasi-classical state vectors (Glauber, 1965 Freed and Villaeys, 1978). For our purpose, however. 

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