Pulse transformation and time-frequency filtering with electromagnetically induced transparency

A simple analytical solution for the propagation of a weak Gaussian pulse in a dense absorptive medium with electromagnetically induced transparency is found. This solution is applied to the analysis of three regimes: (1) and (2) the pulse spectrum is narrower than the transparency window [which is narrow (1) or wide (2) with respect to the width of the absorption line] and (3) the pulse spectrum is broader than the transparency window. It is shown that the pulse maintains its area in all three regimes and maintains its Gaussian shape but narrows in spectrum in regime 1. In regime 2, the pulse begins to distort after a certain distance. In regime 3, the pulse is split into two parts. One part is an adiabatic part with a spectrum defined by the effective width of the transparency window for a thick medium and the other is an oscillating nonadiabatic part of short duration. The adiabatic part propagates slowly and the nonadiabatic part propagates with a velocity close to the speed of light. Thus in regime 3, the medium acts as a time-frequency filter, separating the narrow and wide spectrum components of the pulse in time at the output of the absorber.