Propagation of short pulses in a coherently prepared Lambda medium

Two pulses shorter than all decoherence times are allowed to propagate through an optically thick inhomogeneously-broadened Lambda medium. They reach a steady state characterized by pulse-matching and a fully populated dark state. This extends the relevance of pulse-matching and the dark state to the short-pulse domain and to regimes beyond the adiabatic approximation. Numerical examples in a wide range of parameters and for different oscillator strengths on the two transitions are in agreement with semi-analytical arguments.