  We show that resonant absorption of smooth laser fields can yield Mollow-like
triplet patterns. General conditions for such triplets are derived and
illustrated with a super-Gaussian pulse sequence. Gaussian pulses can not
exhibit triplets, super-Gaussian pulses can form triplets depending on the
pulse area and flat-top pulses can produce absorption triplets after one Rabi
cycle. Our results are compared side-by-side with resonance fluorescence to
emphasize similarities and differences between these unlike observables. In the
high-intensity limit, we show that the central absorption peak is asymmetric,
which we attribute to non-linear photoionization, beyond two-level atomic
physics.
