Self-induced adiabatic rapid passage

We show that, by virtue of the linewidth reduction provided by counter-propagating beams, it is possible to use the optical Stark shift to sweep a two-photon resonance through the sum frequency of the applied light while simultaneously satisfying the conditions required for optical adiabatic rapid passage. Consequently, the application of a near-resonant pulse of light can result in complete population inversion of a two-photon transition. © 1975 The American Physical Society.