Pump depletion through coherent energy transfer in semiconductors.

Experimental and theoretical study of multiwave mixing in semiconductors shows that a pump beam may be depleted through coherent energy transfer by a probe with either positive or negative pump/probe detuning. The gain modification is a sum of symmetric and antisymmetric parts associated with on-resonant and off-resonant effects, respectively. The intracavity probe power required for a given pump depletion is linearly dependent on detuning.