Shape preserving atomic pulse amplifier

Propagation of a weak probe pulse through a $\Lambda$ system in a resonant gain configuration is investigated. We employ the control field intensity that permits the amplification of probe pulse during propagation, without instability at two photon resonance. Posterior to amplification, a broadened probe pulse is obtained, which retains its initial pulse shape and travels at the speed of light in vacuum, without experiencing any delay, absorption, and dispersion. The salient feature of this technique lies in the fact that in addition to preserving the initial pulse shape, it also ensures stable pulse propagation after amplification. It also works for arbitrary probe pulse shapes.