Near–dipole-dipole effects in dense media: Generalized Maxwell-Bloch equations

A self-consistent generalization of the Maxwell-Bloch formulation is presented here for a nonlinear system of saturable two-level atoms interacting with the electromagnetic field, under the condition that the atomic density is such that there are, on the average, many atoms within a cubic resonance wavelength such that near–dipole-dipole interactions, which lead to local-field corrections, cannot be neglected.