PROPAGATION OF COHERENT SMALL-AREA LIGHT-PULSES IN CDS AT THE I-2 BOUND EXCITON

The propagation of small-area picosecond pulses of coherent light in r esonance with the I-2 bound-exciton line in CdS is investigated. The o bserved strong reshaping of the pulses in form of propagation beats is consistent with the concomitantly measured hole formation in the puls e spectrum. By employing transform-limited time-resolved spectroscopy the complex amplitude of the transmitted optical field can be reconstr ucted. This allows to identify the beats as amplitude oscillations and phase changes by pi characteristic of 0 pi pulse formation.