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arXiv:0812.1386 · Canadian Journal of Physics

Two-color modulation transfer spectroscopy

A. Pérez Galván, D Sheng, Luis A. Orozco, Yanting Zhao

Published Jan 1, 2009• 5 citations
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Abstract

We present two-color modulation transfer spectroscopy as a tool for precision studies of atomic properties of excited states. The bi-colored technique addresses a narrow set of velocity groups of a thermal atomic vapour using a two-step transition to “burn a hole” in the velocity distribution. The resulting spectrum presents sub-Doppler linewidths, good signal-to-noise ratio and the trademark sidebands that work as an {in situ} ruler for the energy spacing between atomic resonances. The spectra obtained can be used for different applications such as measurements of energy splittings or stabilization of laser frequencies to excited atomic transitions.PACS Nos.: 32.10.Fn, 32.30.–r, 42.50.Gy, 42.60.Fc

DOI
10.1139/p08-120

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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Apr 30, 2011•0 citations
We present two-color modulation transfer spectroscopy as a tool for precision studies of atomic properties of excited states. The bi-colored technique addresses a narrow set of velocity groups of a thermal atomic vapour using a two-step transition to “burn a hole” in the velocity distribution. The resulting spectrum presents sub-Doppler linewidths, good signal-to-noise ratio and the trademark sidebands that work as an {in situ} ruler for the energy spacing between atomic resonances. The spectra obtained can be used for different applications such as measurements of energy splittings or stabilization of laser frequencies to excited atomic transitions.PACS Nos.: 32.10.Fn, 32.30.–r, 42.50.Gy, 42.60.Fc
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A novel phase-modulation technique which permits subkilohertz-laser stability and new levels of precision in laser spectroscopy was reported recently. For spectroscopy, the basic arrangement consists of a combination of an optical pump and a probe field which is phase modulated. The pump prepares the atomic sample by burning a narrow hole within the atom's inhomogeneous line shape, and the probe beam samples the prepared hole when its modulation sidebands are swept into resonance. Off resonance, the probe is balanced as pairs of sidebands produce heterodyne beat signals of opposite phase which just cancel. On resonance, the balance is upset and yields a nonvanishing beat signal with a Lorentzian absorption or dispersion line shape and with residual noise approaching the shot noise limit. Here we investigate the theory of phase-modulation spectroscopy. We treat the nonlinear response of an atomic two-level quantum system subject to an intense pump and a weak copropagating or counterpropagating phase-modulated probe beam. The density-matrix equations of motion are solved by a Laplace-transform method and by the novel use of a translation operator which allows the infinite hierarchy of coupled equations to close. A solution equivalent to the rate-equation result is developed and coherence corrections are found which predict new resonances that have just been detected in this laboratory. The delayed pump-probe technique encountered in solid-state laser spectroscopy is analyzed in this context for two- and three-level quantum systems. The response of a Fabry-Perot cavity to a phase-modulated light wave is examined also and reveals an unexpected absorption feature.
We propose and demonstrate the velocity transfer spectroscopy of a V-type energy structure with Rb atoms at 420 nm transition. The weak oscillator strength of a lower excited state for V-type energy structure atoms limits the high signal-to-noise ratio of atomic laser spectroscopy, which can be usually realized by optical-optical double-resonance or double-resonance optical pumping for cascade-type energy structure atoms. For 87 Rb atoms, the weak 420 nm transition spectrum between the energy level of 5 2 S 1/2 and 6 2 P 3/2 is transferred to the spectrum on lower excited states at 780 nm with strong oscillator strength, which is recorded by a 780 nm probe laser. This method, which is similar to the electron-shelving detection method, at a certain degree can indirectly measure a higher excited state transition with weak oscillator strength for any V-type energy structure of atoms by transferring the transition spectrum information of the very weak oscillator strength to the strong oscillator strength in an optical-optical double-resonance configuration.
A new source of two diode laser beams, spatially separated but optically phase-locked with each other, is used to study the modulation transfer spectroscopy of coherent population trapping resonance (CPT). The spectrum for the (87)Rb D2 line is obtained with narrow linewidth and high signal-to-noise ratio, and analyzed with different experimental parameters. A theoretical analysis of the CPT modulation transfer spectra is deduced from the density matrix equation of motion, and found to be in good agreement with the experimental results.
Frequency-modulation spectroscopy provides ultrasensitive absorption measurements. The technique is especially adaptable to diode lasers, which can be modulated easily, and has been used extensively in the near-infrared and infrared spectral regions. The availability of blue diode lasers now means that the accessible wavelength region can be increased. We successfully demonstrate wavelength-modulation spectroscopy and two-tone frequency-modulation spectroscopy for the weak second resonance line of potassium at 404.8 nm and for the transition at 405.8 nm in lead, starting from the thermally populated 6(p)(2 3)P(2) metastable level. Information on the modulation parameters is obtained with a fitting procedure. Experimental signal-to-noise ratios at different absorption levels are compared with theoretical signal-to-noise ratios and show good agreement. Detection sensitivities of 2 x 10(-6) and 5 x 10(-6) for wavelength and two-tone frequency-modulation spectroscopy, respectively, for a 120-Hz bandwidth are demonstrated.
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