Numerical demonstration of high sensitivity to initial conditions in solutions of the complete Maxwell–Bloch equations for certain parameters.

The solutions of Maxwell–Bloch equations in a slab of homogeneously broadened two-level atoms almost all initially inverted and prepared in a coherent state exhibit high sensitivity to initial conditions for slabs having width in narrow windows around n λ 0 / 2 ( n is an integer and λ 0 is the wavelength of the atomic transition). Sectors with two dominant modes define these windows. I compute the changes in the ratio of the forward over backward fluxes, in these sectors, as a function of the slab width and the difference in initial atomic population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]