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# Double resonant processes in 𝜒⁽²⁾ nonlinear periodic media

## I Introduction

In recent years a concept of photonic band gap (PBG) materials attracted much attention because of their potential applications in many technical and scientific areas . The most of the theoretical studies of PBG materials focused on the problem of the solution of the dispersion relation that contains an information on the propagation of electromagnetic waves through periodic dielectric structures in the linear regime, when the dielectric constant is independent of the field intensity. On the other hand, it is well known that the introduction of an intensity-dependent refractive index can significantly change the transmission properties of a medium. A considerable activity devoted to the investigation of the phenomena associated with the propagation of the electromagnetic waves in nonlinear media provided a bulk of evidence that PBG structures possessing nonlinearity imply the existence of many interesting and useful phenomena which can occur via nonlinear interaction and therefore are believed to be equally fruitful as PBG systems based on the linear regime . For example, it has been found that the existence of the PBG in which linear electromagnetic effects are absent does not exclude the possibility of nonlinear wave propagation . It has been demonstrated that for certain values of the input power the radiation with the frequency in the stop gap can be transmitted due to the excitation of nonlinear solitary waves which may provide practical way of coupling large amounts of optical energy into otherwise unpenetrable photonic bandgap. If the dielectric has either a positive or negative Kerr coefficient the transmission properties of a medium are dramatically changed. For instance, the range of the forbidden wavelengths can be altered interactively by the nonlinear medium response and this effect can induce an intensity-dependence which has important application in optical bistable switching. Recently, the study of bistability in periodic $`\chi ^{(2)}`$ materials has been reported in Ref. 8.

On the other hand, the possibility of multiplication or division by an integer of a frequency of an electromagnetic wave in a nonlinear medium, in particular the second and third harmonic generation is of great practical importance . In this paper we examine the possibility of the fractional transformation of the frequency which occurs in the photonic crystal represented by 1D periodic multilayer system possessing $`\chi ^{(2)}`$ nonlinearity. This phenomenon as well as any scheme of nonlinear conversion must include phase matching mechanism which is usually achieved by use of an appropriate birefringent nonlinear crystal or by employing some kind of the phase matching which corrects the relative phase between the interacting waves by modulating the sign or magnitude of the nonlinear coefficient on the scale of the coherence length while the linear part of the refractive index is continuous. In contrast, the phase matching in photonic crystals is accomplished by periodic modulation of the linear refractive index or by introducing a defect mode . The enhanced gain in such structures comes about as a result of the interplay of the high electromagnetic mode density density in the vicinity of the band edge due to the modified boundary conditions and strong confinement of both the pump and higher harmonic signals. Simultaneously, low group velocity leads to larger interaction of the interacting waves. The process of the fractional frequency conversion which we consider in this paper represents a particular case of three wave interaction in systems with $`\chi ^{(2)}`$ nonlinearity. Namely, we show that a simultaneous combination of $`\omega =3\omega 2\omega `$ process and the second harmonic generation in a 1D periodic nonlinear medium possessing only $`\chi ^{(2)}`$ nonlinearity results in the output frequency conversion $`\omega (2/3)\omega `$.

In the Section II propose 1D periodic PBG structure in which the resonant conditions for simultaneous SHG and THG and derive a set of coupled-mode equations which allow to determine the evolution of the intensities of the interacting modes. In Section III we analyze stability of the second harmonic of a constant amplitude in terms of the system of the evolution equations and determine the conditions which define regions of stability. In Section IV a stationary process is considered in more detail when the initial energy is arbitrarily distributed among the modes for phase-matched waves. In Section V we identify different types of the evolution of the intensities in terms of the potential governing newtonian particle and present the results of numerical simulations which correspond to the different regimes. In Section VI a particular solitary wave solution is presented in the case when the coefficients $`\gamma _1`$ and $`\gamma _3`$ are of the same order. In Section VII we summarize the results and discuss both the material the structural parameters which affect the efficiency of the processes considered and conditions under which these phenomena can be described in the frame of the parabolic approximation.

## II Statement of the problem

### II.1 Resonant conditions and phase-matching in 1D Photonic Band Gap Structure

Let us consider a TE polarized plane wave incident on a periodic medium with the dielectric perimittivity $`\widehat{ϵ}(x,\omega )`$, $`\widehat{ϵ}(x,\omega )=\widehat{ϵ}(x+L,\omega )`$, where $`L`$ is a period of the structure. We assume that the medium possesses a $`\chi ^{(2)}`$ nonlinearity which is also periodic with the period $`L`$: $`\chi ^{(2)}(x)=\chi ^{(2)}(x+L)`$. The inclusion of the isotropic second order nonlinearity leads to the nonlinear polarization of the form

$$P_{NL}(x,t)=\chi ^{(2)}(x)E^2(x,t).$$
(1)
The Maxwell equations for the TE-polarized wave $`𝐄=(0,E,0)`$ propagating along the $`x`$-axis, i.e. $`EE(x,t)`$, lead to the wave equation

$`c^2{\displaystyle \frac{^2E(x,t)}{x^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{t^2}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}ϵ(x,tt^{})E(x,t^{})𝑑t^{}=4\pi {\displaystyle \frac{^2}{t^2}}P_{NL}(x,t)`$ (2)
where

$$ϵ(x,tt^{})=\delta (tt^{})+4\pi \chi (x,tt^{})$$
(3)
and $`\chi (x,t)`$ is the linear permittivity \[while $`\widehat{ϵ}(x,\omega )`$ is the Fourier transform of $`ϵ(x,t)`$\].

Specifically, we will consider a periodic multilayered structure consisting of two different components denoted as $`a`$ and $`b`$ and fabricated from the materials possessing $`\chi ^{(2)}`$ nonlinearity (as the matter of fact it is enough that only one of the slabs is nonlinear). Then we define the filling fraction $`f=a/(a+b)`$ as an important geometrical parameter which characterizes the stack.

Let us assume that the filling fraction $`f`$ and the dielectric permitivities of the two types of layers $`ϵ_a`$, $`ϵ_b`$ are chosen in such a way that there exist three frequencies $`\omega _j\omega (q_j)`$ $`(j=1,2,3)`$ such that

$$\omega _3=3\omega _1+\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _3,\omega _2=2\omega _1+\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _2$$
(4)
where $`|\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _j|\omega _1`$ and

$$q_3=3q_1+Q_1,q_2=2q_1+Q_2,$$
(5)
where $`Q_j`$ ($`j=1,2)`$ are vectors of the reciprocal lattice, are satisfied. In such a system one has two resonant conditions for the SHG and third harmonic generation (THG) fulfilled simultaneously (if $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _2=\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _3=0`$ one has the exact phase matching). We notice that one of the possibilities to satisfy the mentioned resonant conditions which we call the double resonance hereafter, is to choose all $`\omega _j`$ bordering stop gaps such that (i) all $`\omega _j`$ belong to the center of the Brillouin zone (BZ) or (ii) $`\omega _1`$ and $`\omega _3`$ are at the boundary and $`\omega _2`$ is at the center of the BZ . However, both possibilities are not very interesting from the point of view of practical applications, since it is essential to have energy transfer among modes in space, while the group velocities of modes bordering a stop gap are zero. Therefore we choose the frequencies $`\omega _j`$ to be shifted towards allowed bands and therefore possessing non-zero group velocities $`v_j`$.

We have shown that such resonant conditions can be achieved in the 1D periodic structure consisting of the alternating slabs of Al0.1Ga0.9As and InSb characterized by the dielectric constant $`ϵ_{GaAs}=10.97`$ and $`ϵ_{InSb}=16.4`$ at $`\lambda =2\mu m`$. Both Al0.1Ga0.9As and InSb possess the second order nonlinearity with $`\chi ^{(2)}=1.6810^{10}`$ m/V and $`\chi ^{(2)}=1.8410^{10}`$ m/V, respectively. In Fig. 1(a) we present a photonic band structure for 1D periodic system consisting of the alternating layers of Al0.1Ga0.9As and InSb when the filling fraction $`f=0.1`$. It is demonstrated that in such a system the resonant conditions given by Eqs. (4) and (5) can be satisfied for both wave vectors and frequencies of the fundamental and the final states of the second and third harmonics. The band structure shown in Fig. 1(a) is determined by using standard plane wave method  for an 1D infinite system and the frequencies are expressed in normalized units. In order to correlate our simulations with the experimentally accessible systems we choose the lattice constant $`a=0.7334\mu m`$. The frequencies are taken such that the fundamental signal represented by a laser source operating at $`2\mu m`$ corresponds to the frequency close to the band gap edge of the third lowest band and the second and third harmonic signals with the wavelengths $`1\mu m`$ and $`0.667\mu m`$, respectively, correspond to the frequencies from the vicinity of the 7. and 10. lowest gap, respectively. In Fig. 1(a) we indicate the dispersion curve at $`\lambda =2\mu m`$ which corresponds to the fundamental signal by a solid line for six lowest bands (as it would be without material dispersion). The broken lines refer to the 7. lowest band at $`\lambda =1\mu m`$, which corresponds to the second harmonic and to the 10. lowest band at $`\lambda =0.667\mu m`$ which belongs to the third harmonic signal. In evaluating the photonic band structure for the fundamental and the final higher harmonic states we include the material dispersion in the range of the frequencies considered by substituting the tabulated values of the dielectric constants  at $`\lambda =2\mu m`$: $`ϵ_{AlGaAs}=10.97`$, $`ϵ_{InSb}=16.4`$; at $`\lambda =1\mu m`$: $`ϵ_{AlGaAs}=11.86`$, $`ϵ_{InSb}=18.23`$ and at $`\lambda =0.5\mu m`$: $`ϵ_{AlGaAs}=17.77`$, $`ϵ_{InSb}=13.32`$. The phase matching between the interacting waves was accomplished by varying of the filling fraction of the slabs and choosing the components with suitable material parameters that constitute a geometrical configuration in which the resonant conditions for both nonlinear processes are satisfied. By taking into account the material dispersion of AlGaAs and InSb associated with the wavelengths corresponding to the fundamental signal, the second and third harmonic we have found that the phase matching between the fundamental and the second harmonic and between the fundamental and the third harmonic occurs for the opposite propagating waves. In what follows without restriction of generality the geometry is taken such that the fundamental (i.e. having the lowest frequency wave) is always forward-propagating. In Fig. 1(b) we show in detail the dispersion curves in the extended scheme in the range of the wave vectors and the frequencies in the vicinity of the first lowest band where the regions of the curves having positive and negative derivatives correspond to forward- and backward-traveling waves, respectively. The phase matching between the forward-traveling fundamental and the second harmonic waves is determined by the intersection of the two curves which represent the fundamental signal indicated by the solid line and a dashed curve which represents the second harmonic divided by a factor 2. We show that the exact phase matching between the fundamental wave and the second harmonic is possible when the wave vector $`q=q_{SHG}=0.468`$ and the frequency $`\omega a/2\pi c=0.3667`$, while the exact phase matching between the fundamental wave and the third harmonic is possible when the wave vector $`q=q_{THG}=0.471`$ and the frequency $`\omega a/2\pi c=0.3680`$. The phase matching between the forward-traveling fundamental and third harmonic wave is determined by the intersection of the two curves which represent the fundamental signal indicated by the solid line and a dash-dotted curve which represents the third harmonic divided by a factor 3. Since in the system considered the exact phase matching between the fundamental and second harmonic and the fundamental and third harmonic occur for the wave vectors $`q_{SHG}=0.468`$ and $`q_{THG}=0.471`$ that are not identical, we introduce parameters $`\mathrm{\Delta }q_{SHG}`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }q_{THG}`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _{SHG}`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _{THG}`$, that characterize the conditions under which approximate phase matching occurs. Namely we choose the wave vector $`q=0.47`$ at which the frequency of the fundamental signal is $`\omega a/2\pi c=0.3677`$ and corresponding frequency of the second harmonic divided by factor 2 yields $`\omega a/2\pi c=0.3667`$ while the frequency of the third harmonic divided by the factor 3 yields $`\omega a/2\pi c=0.3680`$. Then the mismatch in frequency between the fundamental and the second the harmonic wave at $`q=0.47`$ is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _2=\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _{SHG}=0.001`$ in respect to the wave vector $`q=0.468`$ at which an exact phase matching between the fundamental wave and the second harmonic occurs. The mismatch in frequency between the fundamental and third harmonic wave at $`q=0.47`$ is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _3=\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _{THG}=0.0003`$ in respect to the wave vector $`q=0.471`$ at which an exact phase matching between the fundamental wave and the third harmonic takes place.

### II.2 Evolution equations

The wave evolution in the processes of higher harmonic generation is well described in terms of the so-called envelope function approach. In the system described above one has to take into account three resonant waves, i.e. to express the electric field in the form

$$E=\underset{j=1}{\overset{3}{}}A_j\varphi _j(x)e^{i\omega _jt}+c.c.$$
(6)
where $`\varphi _j(x)`$ ($`j=1,2,3`$) are orthogonal and normalized eigenfunction of the eigenvalue problem

$$[c^2(d^2/dx^2)+\widehat{ϵ}_0(x;\omega _j)\omega _j^2]\varphi _j(x)=0$$
(7)
$`A_j(x)`$ ($`j=1,2,3`$) is a slowly varying, compared with $`\varphi _j(x)e^{i\omega _jt}`$, amplitude of $`j`$-th mode, and $`c.c.`$ stands for the complex conjugate. Using the conventional and well elaborated procedure (see e.g.) one arrives at the system of equations

$`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{\omega _1}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{A_1}{t}}+v_1{\displaystyle \frac{A_1}{x}}\right)+\gamma _3\overline{A}_2A_3e^{i(\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _3\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _2)t}+2\gamma _1\overline{A}_1A_2e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _2t}=0`$ (8)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{\omega _2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{A_2}{t}}+v_2{\displaystyle \frac{A_2}{x}}\right)+\gamma _3\overline{A}_1A_3e^{i(\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _3\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _2)t}+\overline{\gamma }_1A_1^2e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _2t}=0`$ (9)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{\omega _3}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{A_3}{t}}+v_3{\displaystyle \frac{A_3}{x}}\right)+\overline{\gamma }_3A_1A_2e^{i(\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _3\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _2)t}=0`$ (10)
where the coefficients are given by

$$\gamma _1=2\pi _0^L\chi ^{(2)}(x;\omega ,2\omega )\overline{\varphi }_1(x)\overline{\varphi }_1(x)\varphi _2(x)𝑑x$$
(11)
$$\gamma _3=2\pi _0^L\chi ^{(2)}(x;\omega ,3\omega )\overline{\varphi }_1(x)\overline{\varphi }_2(x)\varphi _3(x)𝑑x$$
(12)
$`L`$ is a length of the stack, and we assume the following symmetry relations :

$$\chi ^{(2)}(x;\omega _1,\omega _2)=\chi ^{(2)}(x;\omega _3,\omega _2)=\chi ^{(2)}(x;\omega _1,\omega _3)$$

are taken into account and bar denotes the complex conjugation.

We note that the system of Eqs. (8)-(10) is derived for a finite structure subject to periodic boundary conditions . The outcomes, however, can be extended to an infinite structure by computing the limit $`L\mathrm{}`$. The difference between the results obtained for finite and infinite structures is estimated to be of $`O(L^1)`$. Bearing this in mind in what follows analytical results are derived for an infinite (or semi-infinite) structure and for numerical estimates of the coefficients $`\gamma _j`$ a finite structure are used. Another important comment to be made is that we consider (8)-(10) also on a semi-line $`x0`$. Formally to do this one should use proper eigenfunctions $`\varphi _j(x)`$ of the boundary value problem (rather than conventional Bloch functions). For special types of solutions, however, (say possessing a symmetry with respect to origin) this leads to a negligible error which very roughly can be estimated to be of order of $`\lambda /l`$, where $`\lambda `$ is a length of the carrier wave and $`l`$ is a characteristic scale of spatial variations of $`A_j`$ (in other words to be of order of the small parameter of the structure).

It is worth to point out that in the case of pulse propagation (or more precisely when $`lim_{t\pm \mathrm{}}A_j(x,t)=0`$) one of the integrals of the evolution system (8)-(10) is given by

$$v_1W_1(x)+v_2W_2(x)+v_3W_3(x)=0$$
(13)
where

$$W_j(x)=_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}|A_j(x,t)|^2𝑑t.$$
(14)
## III Stability of the second harmonic

One of the solutions of the Eqs. (8)-(10) which is of a special importance for the next consideration is that of possessing the second harmonic having a constant amplitude the and first and third harmonics having zero amplitude. We refer such a solution as background, hereafter. Then, considering an infinite system, the question about stability of such a state appears. We consider this problem within the framework of system of the equations (8)-(10) for slowly varying amplitudes which are rescaled as follows

$$a_1=\sqrt{\frac{2}{w_2}}A_1\mathrm{exp}(i\delta \omega _1t),a_2=A_2\mathrm{exp}(i\phi _1),a_3=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_3}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1}\sqrt{\frac{2}{w_2}}A_3\mathrm{exp}[i(\delta \omega _3t+\phi _3+\phi _1)].$$
(15)
In the case of perfect phase matching ($`\delta \omega _2=\delta \omega _3=0`$), we have

$$i\left(\frac{a_1}{\tau }+\frac{a_1}{\xi }\right)+\overline{a}_2a_3+2\overline{a}_1a_2=0,$$
(16)
$$i\left(\frac{1}{w_2}\frac{a_2}{\tau }+\sigma _2\frac{a_2}{\xi }\right)+\overline{a}_1a_3+a_1^2=0,$$
(17)
$$i\left(\frac{1}{w_3}\frac{a_3}{\tau }+\sigma _3\frac{a_3}{\xi }\right)+\mu a_1a_2=0.$$
(18)
Here $`\tau =\omega _1\mathrm{\Gamma }_1t`$, $`\xi =(\omega _1\mathrm{\Gamma }_1/v_1)x`$, $`\sigma _j=`$sign$`(v_j)`$ $`w_j=|v_j|/v_1`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_j=|\gamma _j|`$, $`\mu =\frac{3v_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_3^2}{|v_3|\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^2}`$, and $`\varphi _j=\mathrm{arg}(\gamma _j)`$. (Recall that in accordance with our convention $`v_1>0`$.)

We are interested in the stability properties of a solution of the Eqs. (16)-(18) as follows: $`a_{1,3}=0`$ and $`a_2=\rho \mathrm{exp}[i(\omega \tau k\xi )]`$, where $`\omega =\sigma _2w_2k`$ and $`\rho `$ is a positive constant playing the role of the amplitude of the background. Following the conventional procedure we consider perturbations $`\alpha _j`$ of the mentioned solution, i.e. we substitute $`a_n=\alpha _n\mathrm{exp}[ni(\omega \tau k\xi +\varphi )]`$ for ($`n=1,3`$) and $`a_2=(\rho +\alpha _2)\mathrm{exp}[2i(\omega \tau k\xi +\varphi )]`$, where $`|\alpha _j|\rho `$ into the Eqs. (16)-(18). Next we linearize the system of equations with respect to the $`\alpha _j`$ and represent $`\alpha _j=\alpha _{0j}\mathrm{exp}[i(\mathrm{\Omega }\tau K\xi )]`$ where $`\alpha _{0j}`$ are constants. Then equations for $`\alpha _1`$ and $`\alpha _3`$ are singled out and we obtain the dispersion relation $`f(\mathrm{\Omega },K)=0`$ for small excitations against the background. The complex roots of this equation indicate instability. After straightforward analysis, one obtains the conditions for $`f(\mathrm{\Omega },K)=0`$ having no complex roots. They read

$$k^2\left(1\frac{v_2}{v_1}\right)^2>4$$
(19)
$$3\left(\left|k\left(1\frac{v_2}{v_1}\right)\right|+2\right)\left|k\left(1\frac{v_2}{v_3}\right)\right|<\mu $$
(20)
$$(v_1v_2)(v_2v_3)>0$$
(21)
The first consequence comes out from (19): only a background in a form of a plane wave, i.e. with $`k0`$, is stable. The respective boundary conditions to (16)-(18) read

$$\underset{\xi \mathrm{}}{lim}a_{1,3}=0,\underset{\xi \mathrm{}}{lim}a_2=\rho e^{i(k\xi w_2\tau )}$$
(22)
An important consequence of (21) is that the stable second harmonic can be achieved in a structure where phase matching takes place for waves with ”ordered” group velocities: either $`v_1>v_2>v_3`$ or $`v_1<v_2<v_3`$. In particular, an unstable case is when the first and third harmonics are forward propagating, and the second harmonic propagates in the opposite direction.

As it has been mentioned above in a real configuration it is almost impossible to avoid phase mismatches $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _j`$. They, however, result in the same terms of the evolution equations as the ”rotation” of the background. Hence phase mismatch can either enhance or suppress the instability of a static background. Below it will be convenient to consider $`\omega _2`$ as a reference frequency, and define $`\delta \omega _1=\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _2/2`$ and $`\delta \omega _3=\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _3\frac{3}{2}\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _2`$ as a mismatch of the frequencies of the first and third harmonic, respectively. Then, considering the Eqs. (16)-(18) subject to the boundary conditions (22), taking into account the phase mismatch, and introducing new dependent variables $`\stackrel{~}{a}_n=a_n\mathrm{exp}[i\frac{n}{2}(k\xi w_1\tau )]`$, one arrives at the system of equations

$$i\left(\frac{\stackrel{~}{a}_1}{\tau }+\frac{\stackrel{~}{a}_1}{\xi }\right)+\overline{\stackrel{~}{a}}_2\stackrel{~}{a}_3+2\overline{\stackrel{~}{a}}_1a_2+\stackrel{~}{\nu _1}\stackrel{~}{a}_1=0,$$
(23)
$$i\left(\frac{1}{w_2}\frac{\stackrel{~}{a}_2}{\tau }+\sigma _2\frac{\stackrel{~}{a}_2}{\xi }\right)+\overline{\stackrel{~}{a}}_1\stackrel{~}{a}_3+\stackrel{~}{a}_1^2=0,$$
(24)
$$i\left(\frac{1}{w_3}\frac{\stackrel{~}{a}_3}{\tau }+\sigma _3\frac{\stackrel{~}{a}_3}{\xi }\right)+\mu \stackrel{~}{a}_1\stackrel{~}{a}_2+\stackrel{~}{\nu }_3\stackrel{~}{a}_3=0$$
(25)
where $`\nu _j=\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _j}{\omega _1}\frac{\sigma _j}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1w_j}`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\nu }_j=\delta _j\nu _j`$, $`\delta _1=\frac{1}{2}k(1w_2)`$, and $`\delta _3=\frac{3k(w_3w_2)}{2w_3}`$ .

It follows from the above discussion, that in the particular case when it is possible simultaneously satisfy the two conditions $`\delta _j=\nu _j`$ the case of quasi-phase matching is mathematically equivalent to the case of exact phase matching with the background in a form of a plane wave. Thus, one can associate an effective wave vector of the background with a phase mismatch and if this wave vector belongs to the stability region then one can speak about stabilization of the background by the phase mismatch.

## IV Stationary process

Let us consider in more detail a stationary process when $`A_2`$ does not depend on slow time while the temporal dependence of $`A_j`$ ($`j=1,3`$) is harmonic $`e^{i\delta \omega _jt}`$. Then the system of the evolution equations (8)-(10) can be rewritten in the form

$`i{\displaystyle \frac{da_1}{d\xi }}+\overline{a}_2a_3+2\overline{a}_1a_2\nu _1a_1=0`$ (26)
$`i\sigma _2{\displaystyle \frac{da_2}{d\xi }}+\overline{a}_1a_3+a_1^2=0`$ (27)
$`i\sigma _3{\displaystyle \frac{da_3}{d\xi }}+\mu a_1a_2\nu _3a_3=0`$ (28)
First we concentrate on the case of exact phase matching: $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _2=\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _3=0`$ ($`\nu _1=\nu _3=0`$). Then system of the Eqs. (26)-(28) allows a particular exact solution describing the energy transfer from the first and third modes to the second one. That takes place, however, only for a specific relation between the amplitudes of the first and third modes. In the present paper we focus on a more generic situation when the input energy is distributed among modes arbitrarily. In particular, we are interested in the case when initially the second mode is not excited and in the effect of each of modes on the energy transfer to the second harmonic.

To this end we note that the system of the Eqs. (8)-(10) possesses two integrals:

$`N=|a_1|^2+2\sigma _2|a_2|^2+{\displaystyle \frac{3\sigma _3}{\mu }}|a_3|^2`$ (29)
\[$`dN/d\xi =0`$, it substitutes the relation (13) in the case of monochromatic waves\] and

$`H=a_1^2\overline{a}_2+\overline{a}_1^2a_2+a_1a_2\overline{a}_3+\overline{a}_1\overline{a}_2a_3`$ (30)
($`dH/d\xi =0`$).

For the next consideration it is convenient to separate real and imaginary parts of the amplitudes, $`a_1=q_1+ip_1`$, $`a_2=q_2+i\sigma _2p_2`$, $`a_3=q_3+i\sigma _3\mu p_3`$. Then one can consider the system of the Eqs. (26)-(28) as a dynamical one generated by the Hamiltonian

$`H=\sigma _2\sigma _3\mu q_1p_2p_3+2\sigma _2q_1p_1p_2\sigma _2p_1p_2q_3+q_1q_2q_3+\sigma _3\mu p_1q_2p_3+q_1^2q_2p_1^2q_2`$ (31)
with the canonical Poisson brackets and conjugated variables $`q_j`$ and $`p_j`$. A remarkable property of this system is that the Hamiltonian admits another representation:

$$H=q_2\frac{dp_2}{d\xi }p_2\frac{dq_2}{d\xi }$$
(32)
which gives the relation between the amplitude and the phase of the second harmonic.

In a generic case, when $`H0`$ the dynamics is characterized by permanent energy exchange among modes. In what follows, however, we will be especially interested in situations when all energy is concentrated in one or two of higher harmonics. This can happen only if $`H=0`$: indeed, if the field of the first or the second harmonic is zero, then $`H`$ is zero as well.

The peculiarity of the frequency conversion among modes in periodic media is that the modes involved in the process can be either co-propagating or counter-propagating. Naturally, the behavior of the system strongly depends on the case under consideration, as we already have seen on example of the stability. We can distinguish four different cases: (i) forward propagating waves ($`\sigma _2=\sigma _3=1`$), (ii) backward propagating second harmonic ($`\sigma _2=1`$ and $`\sigma _3=1`$), (iii) backward propagating third harmonic ($`\sigma _2=1`$ and $`\sigma _3=1`$), and (iv) backward propagating second and third harmonics ($`\sigma _2=\sigma _3=1`$). Notice that the last case occurs in the structure depicted in Fig. 1.

In order to study the dynamical system for $`q_j`$ and $`p_j`$ we observe that it follows from (32) that when $`H=0`$ one obtains $`q_2/p_2=\mathrm{cot}\theta _2`$ where $`\theta _2`$ is the phase of the second harmonic (hereafter we speak about the phases of $`a_j`$) which does not depend on the $`\xi `$ and thus is an integral of motion. On the other hand, by computing $`p_2`$ from (31) we obtain

$$\mathrm{cot}\theta _2=\frac{p_1q_3\mu q_1p_32q_1p_1}{q_1q_3+\mu p_1p_3+q_1^2p_1^2}$$
(33)
The last formula allows one to express the functions $`q_1`$, $`p_1`$, $`q_3`$, and $`p_3`$ through the other ones.

The next consideration is devoted to the case when the second harmonic has phase shift $`\pi /2`$ with respect to the first and third ones:

$$\theta _2=\pm \pi /2.$$
(34)
This means that $`q_20`$ and $`p_20`$ at any point in space. Then by introducing a new variable

$$X_p=\sigma _2_0^\xi p_2(\xi ^{})𝑑\xi ^{}$$
(35)
one can linearize the dynamical system which now takes the form

$$\frac{dq_1}{dX_p}q_3+2q_1=0$$
(36)
$$\frac{dq_3}{dX_p}+\sigma _3\mu q_1=0$$
(37)
$$\frac{dp_1}{dX_p}\frac{q_3p_1}{q_1}=0$$
(38)
The first two equations are linear and thus are trivially resolved with respect to $`q_1`$ and $`q_3`$:

$$q_1=C_1e^{\omega _+X_p}+C_2e^{\omega _{}X_p}$$
(39)
$$q_3=C_1\omega _{}e^{\omega _+X_p}C_2\omega _+e^{\omega _{}X_p}$$
(40)
where

$`\omega _\pm =\{\begin{array}{cc}1\pm \sqrt{1\sigma _3\mu }\hfill & \text{if }\sigma _3\mu <1\hfill \\ 1\pm i\sqrt{\sigma _3\mu 1}\hfill & \text{if }\sigma _3\mu >1\hfill \end{array}`$ (43)
Then for $`p_1`$ we obtain

$$p_1=p_{01}e^{2X_p}\left(C_1e^{\omega _+X_p}+C_2e^{\omega _{}X_p}\right)$$
(44)
The constants $`C_1`$, $`C_2`$, and $`p_{01}`$ are determined by the amplitude of the field at the input of the structure.

## V Fractional frequency conversion

Let us look for stationary points of the Eqs. (36)-(38), i.e. for solutions tending to constant at $`\xi \mathrm{}`$. In the case when they exist, stationary points correspond to situation where the energy of the electromagnetic field is either distributed among modes or concentrated in one of them and energy exchange among modes does not occurs any more. Then one can distinguish two cases: (i) $`X_p\pm \mathrm{}`$ what happens when $`\pm \sigma _2p_2^{(st)}>0`$, and (ii) $`X_pX^{(st)}=const.`$ what happens when $`p_2^{(st)}=0`$, where $`p_2^{(st)}=lim_\xi \mathrm{}p_2(\xi )`$. The first situation corresponds to the case when the energy is converted to the second harmonic and the second one corresponds to the case when the energy output of the second harmonic is zero. In this section we concentrate on the former case.

It follows from the Eqs. (39), (40), and (44) that in the case of forward propagating third harmonic ($`\sigma _3=1`$) a bounded nontrivial solution can exists only if $`p_{01}=0`$. Moreover, a convergent solution of the Eqs. (36), (37) can exist only when $`\sigma _2p_2^{(st)}>0`$ what corresponds to the $`q_1^{(st)}=q_3^{(st)}=0`$. In physical terms this conclusion means that the energy initially distributed among three modes is totally transferred during the process into the second harmonic. The necessary condition for such process requires the first, $`a_1`$, and third $`a_3`$, harmonics to be forward propagating waves and have phase difference either $`0`$ or $`\pi `$ while the second one, $`a_2`$ has a relative phase shift $`\pm \pi /2`$ \[the actual phases of the modes are defined by the last conditions and the relations(15)\].

In order to understand which parameters of the input signal result in stationary points we observe that $`X_p`$ as a function of $`\xi `$ can be treated as a coordinate of an effective newtonian particle governed by the equation (the case $`\sigma _3=1`$ is included in the next consideration, as well)

$$\frac{d^2X_p}{d\xi ^2}=\frac{U(X_p)}{X_p}$$
(45)
The potential $`U(X_p)`$ is easily computed from the equation for $`q_2`$ and (39), (40) in terms of elementary functions for arbitrary value of $`\mu `$. It has, however, a rather cumbersome form to be represented here. Instead, we mention that the dynamics of the effective particle essentially depends on whether (a) $`0<\sigma _3\mu <1`$, (b) $`\sigma _3\mu >1`$ or (c) $`\sigma _3\mu <0`$ and $`\mu >1`$. In order to simplify the discussion of these cases we assume that there is no input second harmonic. This means that initially (i.e. at $`\xi =0`$) $`X_p=0`$, $`dX_p/d\xi =0`$ i.e. the energy of the effective particle is determined by the point of intersection of the energy curve with $`U`$-axis, and that the type of the motion depends on the value of the potential energy at $`X_p=0`$. In Fig. 2 we display three typical configurations of $`U(X_p)`$ which correspond to the above cases. They represent different kinds of motion: Fig. 2(a) corresponds to motion of the particle to the right which ends up in the steady state motion. This type of motion means that $`X_p=\sigma _2p_2^{(st)}\xi `$ and thus corresponds to the total energy transfer from the first and third harmonics to the second one. In Fig. 2(b) the particle is initially in a potential well and thus undergoes oscillations around the local minimum of the effective potential. This type of motion, corresponds to periodic energy exchange among modes. Finally, Fig. 2(c) corresponds to exponentially growing solution which indicates the instability within the framework of the parabolic approximation.

The first two types of the behavior described above are represented in Figs. 3(a) and 3(b), where we show the results of the numerical simulations obtained by solving the dynamical equations (26)-(28) for slowly varying amplitudes $`A_j`$ ($`j=1,2,3`$). We display the evolution of the intensities $`|A_j|^2`$ ($`j=1,2,3`$) as a function on $`\xi `$. In Figs. 3(a), (b) we have chosen the same initial values of the amplitudes of the input signal and the same structure parameters as those used in Figs. 2(a) and 2(b). In Fig. 3(a) energy transfer from the first and the third harmonic to the second one is shown. The time of the energy transfer is inversely proportional to the square root of the field intensity which is a direct consequence of the evolution equations. Taking into account that the amplitude of the first harmonic is relatively small, this situation can be viewed as frequency down-conversion – $`\omega _3(2/3)\omega _3`$ – in the case when the input energy is dominated by the pump signal with the frequency $`\omega (=\omega _3)`$. Then after the transition time the energy is transferred into the mode with the fractional frequency $`\frac{2}{3}\omega `$ $`(=\omega _2)`$. The fractional down-conversion is observed even when the first harmonic is negligibly small (but nonzero) at the input. The existence of the first harmonic in this process is fundamental. Indeed, $`A_3`$ const., $`A_10`$, and $`A_20`$ is a solution of the dynamical system (8)-(10) and thus the first harmonic is necessary in order to initiate the process of the down conversion. Moreover, at small enough intensities of the first harmonic we have observed local amplification of the first harmonic.

The case which corresponds to the periodic exchange of the energy among modes is shown in Fig. 3(b). Here we are close to the minimum of the potential energy and the interaction among modes is rather weak (the second harmonic is not zero but has a very small amplitude). Almost the whole energy of the electric field is concentrated in the third harmonic. However it is possible to find parameters at which interactions among modes are strong and even locally the whole energy is concentrated in one or two modes.

As it is evident, by a proper choice of initial parameters in the case of a ”potential ” depicted in Fig. 2(b) an effective particle can be placed outside the potential well. Then the fractional frequency conversion occurs. This situation is given in Fig. 3(c). Finally, in Fig. 3(d) it is shown the exchange of the energy among modes in the presence of mismatch. Although the second harmonic is still generated (i.e. fractional down conversion occurs) at specific distances which are placed almost periodically one observes enhancement of the first harmonic.

Returning to the example of a real structure described in Section 2 one cannot provide frequency conversion to one of the frequencies because of strong instability (this instability however is an artifact of the parabolic approximation: direct numerical simulations of this case will be reported elsewhere). Meantime, when the third harmonic has na amplitude much higher than the first and second harmonic, one can achieve a stable propagation of the modes, which, however, manifest very weak interaction. This situation is shown in Fig. 4. The stability of the picture represented is very sensitive to the relative phases and the amplitudes of the waves.

## VI One solitary wave solution

Let us now return to evolution equations (23)-(25). As it has been mentioned, the phenomenon described above is essentially based on the geometry of the structure. As a consequence the effective nonlinear coefficients $`\gamma _1`$, and $`\gamma _3`$ can be of different orders. In particular, one can achieve the relation $`|\gamma _1||\gamma _3|`$. Then the equations (23)-(25) in the absence of phase mismatch are reduced to the conventional system for the SHG which is integrable by means of the inverse scattering technique . Another integrable case occurs when $`|\gamma _3||\gamma _1|`$. Then the Eqs. (23)-(25) are reduced to the system describing decay of the pump wave, which is the third harmonic, and the back process: $`A_3A_1+A_2`$. A characteristic feature of the last process is that the frequency of the three waves are related by (4).

In the case when $`\gamma _1`$ and $`\gamma _3`$ are of the same order it is still possible to find a particular solitary wave solution having the form of the coupled bright solitons of the first and third harmonics and a dark soliton associated with the second harmonic. It reads

$$\stackrel{~}{a}_1=\frac{\alpha _\pm \beta u_1}{\mathrm{cosh}(\beta \zeta )}$$
(46)
$$\stackrel{~}{a}_2=i\frac{\alpha _\pm ^2\beta u_1^2}{1\mu \alpha _\pm ^2u_1}\left(i\frac{\stackrel{~}{\nu }_3}{\beta u_1}+\mathrm{tanh}(\beta \zeta )\right)$$
(47)
$$\stackrel{~}{a}_3=\frac{\mu \alpha _\pm ^3\beta u_1^2}{1\mu \alpha _\pm ^2u_1}\frac{1}{\mathrm{cosh}(\beta \zeta )}$$
(48)
Here

$$\zeta =\frac{(\xi v\tau )v_2}{v_2vv_1},$$

$`v`$ is a velocity of the pulse,

$$u=\frac{v_3\sigma _3vv_1}{(1v)v_3},u_1=\sigma _3\frac{vv_1}{v_3}$$

$$\alpha _\pm ^2=\frac{\mu (\mu +u)\pm \sqrt{u(u\mu )}}{\mu u_1(\mu +3u)}$$

and the phases of the frequencies of the modes must be chosen to satisfy the relation

$$\frac{\stackrel{~}{\nu }_3}{\stackrel{~}{\nu }_1}=\frac{(1\mu \alpha _\pm ^2u_1)^2}{\alpha _\pm ^2u_1(\mu \alpha _\pm ^2u_12)}.$$
(49)
## VII Discussion and Conclusion

Within the slowly varying amplitude approximation we derived a set of coupled mode equations which describe the evolution of the intensities of the resonant waves. We used these equations to study double resonant processes in $`\chi ^{(2)}`$ nonlinear periodic media in which two matching conditions for the generation of the second and third harmonic are simultaneously satisfied. We show that such conditions can be achieved in one-dimensional photonic band gap structure by choosing a proper combination of geometrical and material parameters.

Speaking about possibilities of experimental fabrication of structures with double phase matching we notice that it is more difficult to match parameters, than say for the second harmonic generation only. In particular it is intriguing when actual experimental values of the refractive index are taken into account. Meantime it seems that there are no restriction for possibility to find a proper geometry almost for any $`\chi ^{(2)}`$ material. Another possible technological difficulty could be a lattice mismatch of the layers. In this context it is worth noting that a periodic structure is rather flexible in the sense that it allows inclusion of new components which being much thinner than the main nonlinear slabs do not affect the phenomenon of frequency conversion. Namely in the case when chosen layers possess large lattice mismatch, slabs of the third kind having width much smaller than $`a`$ or $`b`$ could be included between nonlinear layers.

It has been shown that the use of double resonances allows one to obtain difference frequency generation. A particular example is $`\omega (\frac{2}{3})\omega `$. This however is not direct conversion but it occurs with participation of the mode with the frequency $`\omega /3`$.

Parabolic approximation which for a given scaling results in a dynamical system is generated by Hamiltonian $`H`$. The non-zero Hamiltonian corresponds to the permanent energy exchange among the modes, while $`H=0`$ corresponds to the case when the energy can be (subject to definite conditions) concentrated in one or two higher harmonics (that is the case of fractional conversion). In processes of the frequency conversion in periodic media the modes can be either co-propagating or counter-propagating and consequently the behavior observed is very different. In particular, one can distinguish the following types of the dynamics: (a) the total energy is transferred from the first and third harmonic into the second one, (b) a periodic exchange between the modes occurs and (c) exponentially growing solution, which represents instability within the parabolic approximation. The qualitative picture based on the analysis of the motion of the effective particle in the potential which indicates different types regimes is very well reflected by the results obtained from the numerical simulation carried out to solve dynamical equations.

The evolution equations governing three-wave processes in the presence of double resonances allow a solitary wave solution in a form of coupled two bright solitons (they correspond to the first and third harmonics) and a dark soliton on the second harmonic.

Finally, we also notice that periodic structures, involving geometrical factors rather than only material properties can provide us with a large diversity of matching conditions. In particular one can obtain double resonances as follows \[c.f. the Eqs. (4) and (5)\]

$$\omega _3=2\omega _2+\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _3,\omega _2=2\omega _1+\mathrm{\Delta }\omega _2,$$
(50)
and

$$q_3=2q_2+Q_1,q_2=2q_1+Q_2,$$
(51)
which result is a different kind of three wave interactions. Solitonic solutions generated by the respective interactions in the presence of dispersion have been recently considered in . Naturally, the dispersion can lead also to solitons in the case of double resonances defined in the Eqs. (4), (5).

###### Acknowledgements.

VVK is greatful to Boris Malomed for pointing out the reference . VVK acknowledges support from FEDER and Program PRAXIS XXI, grant N0 PRAXIS/2/2.1/FIS/176/94. The work has been partially supported by the bilateral agreement ICCTI - Czech Academy of Sciences.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The charmless hadronic decays of neutral $`B`$ mesons of interest in this paper can be used to explore $`CP`$ violation arising from two possible interference effects. Indirect $`CP`$ violation in $`B^0`$ decays can arise from interference between the direct amplitude and one involving $`B^0`$$`\overline{B}^0`$ mixing, while direct $`CP`$ violation in charged $`B`$ decays can occur via interference between tree and penguin amplitudes. The former offers the future possibility of measuring directly the CKM angle $`\alpha `$ of the Standard Model. It is expected  that this will require samples of order 100 million $`B`$ mesons. The magnitude of direct $`CP`$ violation is more difficult to estimate but interesting constraints can be provided with much smaller samples. In addition, the tree-penguin interference may allow measurement of the CKM angle $`\gamma `$ , via measurements of the decay rates of modes presented here and the related $`BK\pi `$ and $`B\pi \pi `$ decay modes .

The initial challenge is to obtain significant samples of these rare decays. Many of the modes of interest have only recently been observed for the first time, or remain undiscovered . In this paper, we describe preliminary searches of the initial BABAR data sample for a number of charmless hadronic $`B`$ decays, and give preliminary measurements of their branching fractions. The three-body final states are limited to those with at least two charged tracks ($`\pi ^\pm `$ or $`K^\pm `$) and at most one $`\pi ^0`$. The hadronic resonances $`\rho `$ and $`K^{}`$ are sufficiently short-lived that the modes which contain them interfere quantum mechanically with other relevant 3-body final state modes. We have however searched for them independently using appropriate kinematic selections within the Dalitz plot. The quasi-two-body decays involve an $`\eta ^{}`$ or $`\omega `$ meson accompanied by a neutral kaon or charged pion or kaon. We summarize the decay modes considered111Charge conjugate decay modes are assumed throughout this paper. as follows:

| three-body |  | quasi-two-body |
| --- | --- | --- |
| $`B^+K^0\pi ^+`$ |  | $`B^+\eta ^{}K^+`$ |
| $`B^+\rho ^0K^+`$ |  | $`B^0\eta ^{}K_S^0`$ |
| $`B^+K^+\pi ^{}\pi ^+`$ |  | $`B^+\omega \pi ^+`$ |
| $`B^+\rho ^0\pi ^+`$ |  | $`B^+\omega K^+`$ |
| $`B^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^+`$ |  | $`B^0\omega K_S^0`$ |
| $`B^0\rho ^{}\pi ^\pm `$ |  |  |

## 2 The BABAR detector and data

The data used in the analyses were collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II storage ring. The BABAR detector, described in detail elsewhere , consists of five active sub-detectors. Surrounding the beam-pipe is a silicon vertex tracker (SVT) to track particles of momentum less than $``$120$`\mathrm{MeV}/c`$ and to provide precision measurements of the positions of charged particles of all momenta as they leave the interaction point. A beam-support tube surrounds the SVT. Outside this is a 40-layer drift chamber (DCH), filled with an 80:20 helium-isobutane gas mixture to minimize multiple scattering, providing measurements of track momenta in a 1.5 T magnetic field. It also provides $`\mathrm{d}E/\mathrm{d}x`$ measurements to help charged particle identification. Surrounding the outer circumference of the drift chamber is a novel detector of internally reflected Cherenkov radiation (DIRC) which provides charged hadron identification in the barrel region. This consists of quartz bars of refractive index $``$1.42 in which Cherenkov light is produced by relativistic charged particles. This is internally reflected and collected by an array of photomultiplier tubes, which enable Cherenkov rings to be reconstructed and associated with the charged tracks in the DCH, providing a measurement of particle velocities. Outside the DIRC is a CsI(Tl) electromagnetic calorimeter (EMC) which is used to detect photons and neutral hadrons, and to provide electron identification. The EMC is surrounded by a superconducting coil which provides the magnetic field for tracking. Outside the coil, the flux return is instrumented with resistive plate chambers (IFR), interspersed with iron which may be used for the identification of muons and $`K_L^0`$ mesons.

The data sample used for the analyses contains 8.8 million $`B\overline{B}`$ pairs , corresponding to 7.7$`\text{ fb}^1`$ taken on the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ resonance. In addition, 1.2$`\text{ fb}^1`$ of data taken off-resonance have been used to validate the contribution to backgrounds resulting from $`e^+e^{}`$ annihilation into light $`q\overline{q}`$ pairs. These data have all been processed with reconstruction software to determine the three-momenta and positions of charged tracks and the energies and positions of photons and merged $`\pi ^0\text{ }\mathrm{s}`$. Refined information on particle type from the various sub-detectors described above is also provided, and is used in particle identification algorithms in the analyses, as described below.

## 3 Candidate selection

Charged tracks are required to satisfy some standard track criteria, including a requirement that the momentum is less than 10$`\mathrm{GeV}/c`$ and that the transverse momentum is greater than 0.1$`\mathrm{GeV}/c`$. They are required to have at least 20 hits in the DCH and to originate close to the beam-spot.

Photon candidates are identified in our calorimeter as deposits of energy unassociated with charged tracks. Resolved $`\pi ^0\text{ }\mathrm{s}`$ are reconstructed by combining pairs of photon candidates and requiring that the invariant mass of the resultant candidate is between 100$`\mathrm{MeV}/c^2`$ and 170$`\mathrm{MeV}/c^2`$. Photon candidates used in $`\pi ^0`$ reconstruction are required to have a minimum energy of 50$`\mathrm{MeV}`$. In addition to resolved $`\pi ^0\text{ }\mathrm{s}`$, unresolved $`\pi ^0\text{ }\mathrm{s}`$ are identified as single clusters of energy deposited in the EMC without distinct local maxima and satisfying certain topological criteria . For the final event selection, we tighten the requirement on the $`\pi ^0`$ mass to between 120$`\mathrm{MeV}/c^2`$ and 150$`\mathrm{MeV}/c^2`$.

Neutral kaons are reconstructed through the decay $`K_S^0\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$. $`K_S^0`$ candidates are formed from combinations of two oppositely charged tracks satisfying basic track criteria similar to those mentioned above, except with a looser constraint on their proximity to the beam spot. We require that the $`K_S^0`$ candidate’s flight length exceed 2$`\mathrm{mm}`$, the angle between its flight and momentum directions be less than 40$`\mathrm{mr}`$, and the mass lie within $`\pm 10`$$`\mathrm{MeV}/c^2`$ of nominal.

We reconstruct $`\omega `$ mesons using the dominant decay channel, $`\omega \pi ^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0`$, which has a branching fraction of 88.8%. Candidates are obtained as combinations of two charged tracks with opposite signs and one $`\pi ^0`$ candidate. The invariant mass of the $`\omega `$ candidate is required to be within 0.05$`\mathrm{GeV}/c^2`$ of the known $`\omega `$ mass . Figure 1 shows the $`\pi ^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0`$ invariant mass for $`\omega `$ candidates with a center-of-mass momentum between 1.9 and 3.1$`\mathrm{GeV}/c`$. The signal is fitted with a Breit-Wigner function with the natural width of the $`\omega `$ (8.4$`\mathrm{MeV}/c^2`$) convoluted with a Gaussian resolution function, and the combinatorial background is fitted with a second-order polynomial. The Gaussian resolution function is found to have a width of 8$`\mathrm{MeV}/c^2`$.

Candidate $`\rho `$ and $`K^{}`$ mesons are reconstructed by combining pairs of appropriately charged tracks and/or $`\pi ^0`$ candidates, with the assumption of the relevant final-state rest masses, and requiring that the combination have an invariant mass sufficiently close to the known resonance mass. Requirements for the invariant masses are analysis-dependent, and are described below.

The $`\eta `$ meson is reconstructed by combining pairs of photon candidates with a minimum energy of 50$`\mathrm{MeV}`$. The reconstructed $`\eta `$ mass for data is shown in Fig. 2. We obtain a width of 19$`\mathrm{MeV}/c^2`$ for a Gaussian fit, with the background described by a second-order polynomial. The $`\eta ^{}`$ meson is reconstructed in the $`\eta ^{}\eta \pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ decay mode. This is done by combining $`\eta `$ candidates with pairs of oppositely charged tracks. A mass constraint is used to improve the $`\eta `$ mass resolution. Fig. 2 shows the invariant mass distribution for all $`\eta \pi \pi `$ candidates with momentum above 2$`\mathrm{GeV}/c`$. From a fit to the sum of a Gaussian and a second-order polynomial, we obtain a width of 4.7$`\mathrm{MeV}/c^2`$ for the $`\eta ^{}`$ peak.

For $`B`$ decays to final states formed from a pseudoscalar and a vector meson, the vector meson is polarized. We make use of the angular distribution of the vector meson decay products to distinguish between signal and background. We compute in the rest frame of the vector meson the cosine of the angle $`\theta _H`$ between the direction of one of the vector meson daughters (the normal to the decay plane in the case of the $`\omega `$) and the direction of the $`B`$ meson in the same frame. We expect signal events to be distributed according to $`\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _H`$, while background should be approximately flat.

To veto electrons, we require that charged hadrons satisfy $`E/p<0.9`$, where $`E`$ is the energy measured in the calorimeter associated with a charged track of momentum $`p`$. We also require that kaons be positively identified as such with a combination of the information from the DIRC and the drift chamber $`\mathrm{d}E/\mathrm{d}x`$. For pions, we simply require that they not be identified as kaons.

Reconstruction of $`B`$ candidates is done by forming all combinations of the appropriate final-state candidate particles, and requiring them to satisfy kinematic constraints appropriate for $`B`$ mesons. We use two kinematic variables  for this: $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}=\sqrt{(\frac{1}{2}s+𝐩_0𝐩_B)^2/E_0^2p_B^2}`$, where the subscripts $`0`$ and $`B`$ refer to the $`e^+e^{}`$ system and the $`B`$ candidate, respectively; and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=E_B^{}\sqrt{s}/2`$, where $`E_B^{}`$ is the $`B`$ candidate energy in the center-of-mass frame. For signal events, the former has a value close to the $`B`$ meson mass 222 A nearly equivalent constrained mass that we use for some of the modes is $`m_{\mathrm{EC}}=\sqrt{E_{B}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}p_{B}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}`$, obtained from a fit constrained by $`E_B^{}=\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{s}`$. and the latter should be close to zero. In our analyses, the appropriate final state masses are assigned to the final state particles in calculating $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$.

We have measured the expected distributions of the signal with respect to $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$, using two calibration modes described in Section 4. Based on these, we define a “signal region” in the $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$$`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ plane by $`|m_{\mathrm{ES}}m_{\mathrm{ES}}|<6`$$`\mathrm{MeV}/c^2`$ and $`|\mathrm{\Delta }E\mathrm{\Delta }E|<70`$$`\mathrm{MeV}`$, where $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ indicate the mean values obtained in the calibration modes. This signal region is common to all modes, except $`B^+\omega h^+`$ (see Section 6.2).

## 4 Calibration with charmed $`𝑩`$ decays

The decay mode $`B^+\overline{D}{}_{}{}^{0}\pi _{}^{+},\overline{D}{}_{}{}^{0}K^+\pi ^{}`$ results in a final state containing three charged tracks, while the same $`B^+`$ decay with $`\overline{D}{}_{}{}^{0}K^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0`$ yields in addition a $`\pi ^0`$. The $`D^0`$ mass is small compared to that of the $`B`$, so that this decay has kinematics similar to charmless $`B`$ decays to two light mesons such as $`B\rho \pi `$, $`BK^{}\pi `$ or $`B\omega \pi `$. The product branching fractions are known to about 10% precision and are roughly an order of magnitude larger than those expected of many charmless modes. A study of these decays can therefore be used to calibrate the variables used in the charmless analyses. The most significant difference is that the $`D^0`$ has a measurable lifetime, resulting in decay tracks which do not share a common vertex with the pion from the $`B`$ decay.

The candidate selection proceeds along similar lines to those described earlier for the charmless decay modes, except that the invariant mass of the $`D^0`$ daughters, assumed to be $`\pi K(\pi ^0)`$, must be consistent with the $`D^0`$ mass. The background is estimated by counting events in a “sideband” of the $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$$`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distribution, and also by looking at $`K\pi \pi (\pi ^0)`$ track combinations which satisfy the selection criteria but which have an incorrect charge combination (the kaon charge is opposite to that of the $`B`$ meson). The extrapolation from sideband to signal region is done in the same way as described for the charmless analyses.

The efficiency of the selection for $`B^+\overline{D}{}_{}{}^{0}\pi _{}^{+},\overline{D}{}_{}{}^{0}K^+\pi ^{}`$\[$`\pi ^0`$\] is $`(23\pm 2)\%`$ \[$`(12\pm 1)\%`$\], evaluated as described in Section 6. When combined with the total number of $`B`$ decays the product branching fraction for $`B^+\overline{D}{}_{}{}^{0}\pi _{}^{+},\overline{D}{}_{}{}^{0}K^+\pi ^{}`$\[$`\pi ^0`$\] is measured to be $`(2.21\pm 0.11)\times 10^4`$ \[$`(6.79\pm 0.32)\times 10^4`$\], where the errors are statistical only. These are both consistent with the corresponding world-average values .

The selected signals in these modes have been used to estimate the $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ resolution functions of our target modes in data. We find the $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$ resolution to be $`2.7\pm 0.1\mathrm{MeV}/c^2`$ in the mode with only three charged tracks and $`3.0\pm 0.1`$ $`\mathrm{MeV}/c^2`$ in the mode with a $`\pi ^0`$. The corresponding $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ resolutions are $`26\pm 2`$ $`\mathrm{MeV}`$ in the mode with only three charged tracks and $`33\pm 2`$ $`\mathrm{MeV}`$ in the mode with a $`\pi ^0`$. The measured values were used to inform the choice of signal region, noted at the end of Section 3 and for calculation of the selection efficiency and its uncertainty.

## 5 Background characterization and suppression

Charmless hadronic modes suffer very large amounts of background from random combinations of tracks, mostly from light quark and charm continuum production. Such backgrounds may be reduced by selection requirements on the event topologies computed in the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ rest frame. We use the angle $`\theta _T`$ between the thrust axis of the $`B`$ meson decay and the thrust axis of the rest of the event. For continuum-related backgrounds, these two directions tend to be aligned because the reconstructed $`B`$ candidate daughters generally lie in the same jets as those in the rest of the event. By contrast, in $`B`$ events, the decay products from one $`B`$ meson are independent of those in the other, making the distribution of this angle isotropic. In consequence, requiring that this opening angle be significant provides a strong suppression of continuum backgrounds.

Other event shape variables also help to separate signal and background. We combine several variables in a Fisher discriminant $``$ . The variables contained in $``$ are:

* The summed energy in nine annular cones of angular extent 175 mrad, coaxial with the thrust axis of the $`B`$ candidate.
* The absolute value of the cosine of the angle between the $`B`$ direction and the beam axis.
* The absolute value of the cosine of the angle between the thrust axis of the $`B`$ candidate and the beam axis.

The Fisher discriminant is a linear combination of these 11 variables. The coefficients for each variable are chosen to maximize the separation between training samples of signal and background events. These coefficients were determined for the $`B^+\omega h^+`$ analysis and the same coefficients are used for the other $`\omega `$ and $`\eta ^{}`$ analyses.

Despite the power of such topological variables to reduce the combinatorial backgrounds, most of the modes we have searched for continue to suffer significant background levels. Even after stringent selection criteria have been applied, it is necessary to do a background subtraction to isolate a signal or set an upper limit. In order to do this, the background in the signal region must be estimated. This is done by noting that the amount of background in the signal region should be related to the amount in a sideband region, located near the signal region in the $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$-$`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ plane. We define $`𝒜`$, to be the ratio of the number of candidates in the signal region to the number in the sideband region. Two different methods have been used to estimate $`𝒜`$. In the first, the shape of the distribution of the background as a function of $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$ is measured from on-resonance data. This is done with events slightly displaced from the signal region in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ variable ($`0.1<|\mathrm{\Delta }E|<0.3`$). In the second method, off-resonance data are used, simply counting the numbers of candidates in the signal and sideband regions to provide the ratio. The first method is used in the three-body measurements, and the second method in the quasi-two-body measurements. In each case, the alternative method has been used to evaluate systematic errors. Where insufficient data are available for the off-resonance studies, selection criteria in uncorrelated variables have been loosened, to provide additional statistics in the determination of $`𝒜`$. We find that the value of $`𝒜`$ is quite independent of the decay mode provided the selection criteria are common. For some modes with limited statistics we substitute a more precise value of $`𝒜`$ from a mode in which it is better measured. Simulated light-quark ($`u`$, $`d`$, $`s`$, $`c`$) continuum events are used to check the value of $`𝒜`$ and provide a statistically-independent sample for optimization of event selections in the final stage of the analysis.

## 6 Analysis

The branching fractions are calculated according to

$$=\frac{N_1𝒜N_2}{N_{B\overline{B}}\times ϵ}$$
(1)
where $`N_1`$ is the number of candidates in the signal region for on-resonance data; $`N_2`$ is the number of candidates in on-resonance data observed in the sideband region, so that $`𝒜N_2`$ is the estimated number of background candidates in the signal region; $`N_{B\overline{B}}`$ is the number of $`B\overline{B}`$ pairs produced and $`ϵ`$ is the signal efficiency. Except in particular cases, explained below, the sideband is specified by $`5.20<m_{\mathrm{ES}}<5.27`$$`\mathrm{GeV}/c^2`$, $`|\mathrm{\Delta }E\mathrm{\Delta }E|<0.2`$$`\mathrm{GeV}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ was defined in Section 3.

The numbers and distributions of candidates within the signal region remain unknown to us until all aspects of the analysis are finalized. The final selection criteria are chosen to maximize the sensitivity of the signal, defined as the expected signal yield divided by its statistical uncertainty. Once chosen, neither the background description nor the cuts are changed. This procedure has been followed independently for each channel.

For the signal efficiency in Eq. (1), we use simulated signal events and the same selection criteria as used for the data. The efficiencies due to tracking, particle identification and the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ and $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$ selection criteria are determined from independent control samples from the data.

### 6.1 Modes with three-body final states

The selection criteria which are varied during optimization are the thrust-angle requirement, the helicity-angle requirement and the mass requirement on resonance candidates. In addition to these and the selection criteria described in Section 3, a quality requirement of $`\chi ^2<20`$ is applied to the three (two) charged track vertices in all charged (neutral) three-body analyses. Finally, a veto on all pairs of tracks which are consistent with the $`\overline{D}{}_{}{}^{0}K^+\pi ^{}`$ decay hypothesis (independent of particle identification) is applied in all three-body analyses. This has no significant effect on our results in any mode except $`B^+\rho ^0K^+`$. The results for these analyses are summarized in Table 1. The branching fraction central values are calculated from Eq. 1. The significance values given are the probabilities of a fluctuation of the background to account for the observed yield, in equivalent Gaussian standard deviations.

The background extrapolation is validated, albeit with low statistics, by the observed ratios of events in signal and sideband regions in off-resonance data. In each case, we found that the number of events falling in the signal region was consistent within one standard deviation with the expectation from the sideband regions.

The $`B^+\rho ^0K^+`$ mode has the additional complication of cross-talk background from the $`B^+\eta ^{}K^+`$ mode with $`\eta ^{}\rho ^0\gamma `$. The $`\gamma `$ can be quite soft and in such cases the $`\rho ^0`$ and $`K^+`$ may imitate the $`B^+\rho ^0K^+`$ signal. We correct for this by processing simulated events from this background mode using the full set of optimized selection criteria for the $`B^+\rho ^0K^+`$ mode. We obtain an efficiency for this mode of 2.4%, leading to a reduction of the observed branching fraction by $`2.0\times 10^6`$. The existence of this $`B`$-related background was foreseen, and for this reason the sideband used to estimate the background is somewhat smaller than that used for the other modes, to ensure that there was no significant leakage of this background into the light-quark background estimate. Cross-talk among the other modes considered is found from Monte Carlo simulation to be negligible at the current level of precision.

The distributions of $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ for the resonant three-body modes are shown in Fig. 3.

We note that the analyses of the two modes $`B^+K^+\pi ^{}\pi ^+`$ and $`B^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^+`$ differ in some respects from those with a resonance. We remove all two-body combinations with invariant masses less than 2 $`\mathrm{GeV}/c^2`$, and in addition veto combinations of tracks consistent with the decay mode $`B^+J/\psi K^+`$. The distributions of $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ for the non-resonant modes are shown in Fig. 4.

### 6.2 Modes with $`𝝎`$ and $`𝜼^{\mathbf{}}`$

We summarize the results of the measurements in Table 2. For all decay modes, we require $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta _T|<0.9`$, and then find the optimum selection requirement in $``$. The latter is listed for each mode in the table. Also listed are the selection criteria on resonance masses and $`\pi ^0`$ or $`\eta `$ masses. The selection criteria are centered on the known masses . We also require that $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta _H|`$ be greater than 0.55 (0.4) for the decay modes $`B^+\omega h^+`$($`B^0\omega K^0`$).

Table 2 gives the yields in the signal and sideband regions, both for on- and off-resonance data. The signal region is defined as $`|m_{\mathrm{ES}}5.279|<0.006`$ GeV/$`c^2`$ and $`|\mathrm{\Delta }E|<0.070`$ GeV, except for $`B^+\omega h^+`$ where we use $`0.113<\mathrm{\Delta }E<0.070`$ GeV, allowing for the 43 MeV shift of $`B^+\omega K^+`$ when the energy of the $`K^+`$ is computed with a pion mass. The sideband is defined as $`5.20<m_{\mathrm{ES}}<5.27`$ GeV/$`c^2`$ and $`|\mathrm{\Delta }E|<0.2`$ GeV. The branching fraction central values and significance values are calculated in the same way as for Table 1.

In Fig. 5 we illustrate the reconstruction of the $`B^+\eta ^{}K^+`$ states with plots of the kinematic variables associated with the $`B`$ meson and daughter resonance. For the other decay modes we report our final results as 90% confidence upper limits.

The distributions for all decay modes, projected on to the $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ axes, are presented in Fig. 6.

## 7 Systematic errors

The primary uncertainty in the signal yield is the counting statistics of the accepted events in the signal region. The systematic uncertainty on the background estimate receives contributions from the number of events observed in the on-resonance sideband region and from the ratio $`𝒜`$. The uncertainty on the latter depends on the statistics of the off-resonance samples and on the method used to determine it. We estimate an overall uncertainty in $`𝒜`$ of 4% for the charged three-body modes and 10% for the other modes.

The branching fraction itself has a multiplicative uncertainty from our knowledge of the efficiency, $`ϵ`$. We measure $`ϵ`$ using signal Monte Carlo simulation, and a significant uncertainty arises from limited signal mode statistics, the fractional error due to the size of the Monte Carlo samples used to estimate $`ϵ`$ varies between 4% and 7%, depending on the mode. The accuracy of the simulation is subject to systematic uncertainties in the efficiency of tracking and calorimetric shower detection, particle identification criteria, and the resolutions on quantities used to define selection criteria. At present the dominant uncertainties are in the tracking, $`\pi ^0/\eta `$ reconstruction, and Fisher Discriminant selection efficiency, with some variation on their relative importance depending on the decay mode.

Independent studies determine an absolute track-finding efficiency uncertainty of 2.5% per track, added coherently for all tracks required in the analyses. For $`\pi ^0`$ or $`\eta `$ reconstruction, we assign an uncertainty of 5%, and add an additional uncertainty of 1-5% in quadrature to account for the effect of the final mass requirement. For the Fisher Discriminant selection, the uncertainty on the efficiency can vary considerably, depending on the tightness of the selection requirement. The uncertainty ranges from only a few percent for decay modes with low background, to as much as 15% for ones which need a tight selection requirement. The number of produced $`B\overline{B}`$ events has been estimated in separate studies  with an estimated uncertainty of 3.6%. Uncertainties in the particle identification and $`m_{\mathrm{ES}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ selection criteria contribute systematic uncertainties of 2-4%, depending on mode. The overall systematic uncertainty is the quadrature sum of the contributions from all sources.

For modes in which we find an upper limit for the branching fraction, we account for the uncertainty of the efficiency by using in Eq. 1 the measured efficiency reduced by one standard deviation in the systematic error.

## 8 Summary

We have presented a number of preliminary measurements of charmless hadronic $`B`$ decays, summarized in Table 3. We observe significant signals for $`B^+\eta ^{}K^+`$ and $`B^0\rho ^{}\pi ^\pm `$, with branching fractions $`(B^+\eta ^{}K^+)=(62\pm 18\pm 8)\times 10^6`$ and $`(B^0\rho ^{}\pi ^\pm )=(49\pm 13_5^{+6})\times 10^6`$. Upper limits are given for the remaining channels we have studied. In each case, our determinations are consistent with earlier published measurements .

## Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the contributions of our PEP-II colleagues in achieving the excellent luminosity and machine conditions that have made this work possible. We acknowledge support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), Institute of High Energy Physics (China), Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique and Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (France), Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Germany), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy), The Research Council of Norway, Ministry of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation, Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (United Kingdom), the Department of Energy (US), and the National Science Foundation (US). In addition, individual support has been received from the Swiss National Foundation, the A. P. Sloan Foundation, the Research Corporation, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The visiting groups wish to thank SLAC for the support and kind hospitality extended to them.