We study the nonlinear transient effects similar to self-induced transparency and adiabatic following for a moving Rydberg atom undergoing a two-photon transition in an ideal cavity having a spatial field distribution for an uncorrelated two-mode coherent state. A comparative study is made of the case where an atom is undergoing a one-photon transition in a single-mode coherent field.

• Received 13 April 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.58.4662