Π-pulse propagation in the presence of host dispersion

A steady-state solution describing
\Pi
-pulse propagation in a homogeneously broadened laser amplifier embedded in a dispersive lossy host is found. For a given model of dispersion, the solution satisfies exactly the second-order wave equation together with the equations of motion for the density matrix of the two-level resonant system. The salient feature of the solution is that a small amount of dispersion in the host group velocity causes a large monotonic frequency sweep during the pulse. The effects of this chirp on the pulse properties are described in detail, and the relation of the theory to experiments is discussed.