Carrier shock and frequency conversion of a few-cycle pulse laser propagating in a non-resonant two-level atom medium

We have studied the spectral behaviour of few-cycle soliton pulses in a non-resonant two-level atom medium by solving the full Maxwell－Bloch equations. It is demonstrated further that the carrier effects play an important role in the propagation of the few-cycle pulse laser. When the frequency detuning is not very large, both the population distribution and the refractive index of the medium follow the oscillatory carrier field instantaneously; in this case, carrier-wave compression or carrier shock occurs, and a supercontinuum broader than that in the resonant medium may be generated. When the frequency detuning is large, the carrier shock is weak and the spectrum is not continuous, only showing an odd harmonic radiation.