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arXiv:1206.0214 · Optics Letters

Optical isolator using an atomic vapor in the hyperfine Paschen–Back regime

Lee Weller, K. S. Kleinbach, Mark A. Zentile, Svenja A. Knappe, Ifan G. Hughes, Charles S. Adams

Published Aug 7, 2012• 137 citations
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Abstract

A light, compact optical isolator using an atomic vapor in the hyperfine Paschen-Back regime is presented. Absolute transmission spectra for experiment and theory through an isotopically pure 87Rb vapor cell show excellent agreement for fields of 0.6 T. We show π/4 rotation for a linearly polarized beam in the vicinity of the D2 line and achieve an isolation of 30 dB with a transmission >95%.

DOI
10.1364/ol.37.003405

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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Nov 29, 2019•12 citations
A light, compact optical isolator using an atomic vapor in the hyperfine Paschen-Back regime is presented. Absolute transmission spectra for experiment and theory through an isotopically pure 87Rb vapor cell show excellent agreement for fields of 0.6 T. We show π/4 rotation for a linearly polarized beam in the vicinity of the D2 line and achieve an isolation of 30 dB with a transmission >95%.
Here we report on measurements of the absolute absorption and dispersion properties of an isotopically pure 87Rb vapour for magnetic fields up to and including 0.6 T. We discuss the various regimes that arise when the hyperfine and Zeeman interactions have different magnitudes, and show that we enter the hyperfine Paschen–Back regime for fields greater than 0.33 T on the Rb D2 line. The experiment uses a compact 1 mm3 microfabricated vapour cell that makes it easy to maintain a uniform and large magnetic field with a small and inexpensive magnet. We find excellent agreement between the experimental results and numerical calculations of the weak probe susceptibility where the line positions and strengths are calculated by matrix diagonalization.
Here we report on measurements of the absolute absorption and dispersion properties of an isotopically pure 87 Rb vapour for magnetic fields up to and including 0.6 T. We discuss the various regimes that arise when the hyperfine and Zeeman interactions have different magnitudes, and show that we enter the hyperfine Paschen–Back regime for fields greater than 0.33 T on the Rb D 2 line. The experiment uses a compact 1 mm 3 microfabricated vapour cell that makes it easy to maintain a uniform and large magnetic field with a small and inexpensive magnet. We find excellent agreement between the experimental results and numerical calculations of the weak probe susceptibility where the line positions and strengths are calculated by matrix diagonalization.
We investigate experimentally and theoretically the Faraday effect in an atomic medium in the hyperfine Paschen–Back regime, where the Zeeman interaction is larger than the hyperfine splitting. We use a small permanent magnet and a micro-fabricated vapour cell, giving magnetic fields of the order of a tesla. We show that for low absorption and small rotation angles, the refractive index is well approximated by the Faraday rotation signal, giving a simple way to measure the atomic refractive index. Fitting to the atomic spectra, we achieve magnetic field sensitivity at the 10−4 level. Finally we note that the Faraday signal shows zero crossings which can be used as temperature insensitive error signals for laser frequency stabilization at large detuning. The theoretical sensitivity for 87Rb is found to be ∼40 kHz °C−1.
We investigate experimentally and theoretically the Faraday effect in an atomic medium in the hyperfine Paschen–Back regime, where the Zeeman interaction is larger than the hyperfine splitting. We use a small permanent magnet and a micro-fabricated vapour cell, giving magnetic fields of the order of a tesla. We show that for low absorption and small rotation angles, the refractive index is well approximated by the Faraday rotation signal, giving a simple way to measure the atomic refractive index. Fitting to the atomic spectra, we achieve magnetic field sensitivity at the 10 −4 level. Finally we note that the Faraday signal shows zero crossings which can be used as temperature insensitive error signals for laser frequency stabilization at large detuning. The theoretical sensitivity for 87 Rb is found to be ∼40 kHz °C −1 .
Simple and efficient λ-method and λ/2-method (λ is the resonant wavelength of laser radiation) based on a nanometric-thickness cell filled with rubidium (Rb) are implemented to study the splitting of hyperfine transitions of an Rb85 and Rb87D1 line in an external magnetic field in the range of B=0.5–0.7 T. It is experimentally demonstrated from 20 (12) Zeeman transitions allowed at low B-field in Rb85 (Rb87) spectra in the case of σ+ polarized laser radiation, only 6 (4) remain at B>0.5 T, caused by decoupling of the total electronic momentum J and the nuclear spin momentum I (hyperfine Paschen–Back regime). The expressions derived in the frame of completely uncoupled basis (J,mJ;I,mI) describe the experimental results extremely well for Rb85 transitions at B>0.6 T (that is a manifestation of hyperfine Paschen–Back regime). A remarkable result is that the calculations based on the eigenstates of the coupled (F,mF) basis, which adequately describe the system for a low magnetic field, also predict reduction of the number of transition components from 20 to 6 for Rb85 and from 12 to 4 for Rb87 spectrum at B>0.5 T. Also, the Zeeman transition frequency shifts, frequency intervals between the components and their slope versus B, are in agreement with the experiment.
Abstract We demonstrate both numerically and experimentally the important role of buffer gas in achieving optical isolator based on efficient hyperfine-structure optical pumping of Rubidium (87Rb) atoms in miniaturized vapor cells. It is observed that the increase in the buffer gas pressure allows achieving highly efficient optical pumping. Specifically, at a buffer gas pressure of 40 Torr, it is possible to pump about 85% of the atoms out of the pumped state into the other ground state. While optical pumping has been reported for conventional centimeter-scale cells, we show that in miniaturized cells the role of buffer gas is crucial, as the higher collision rate with the walls diminishes the effect of optical pumping, posing a stringent limitation on the applicability of optical pumping in miniaturized systems. Following the results reported herein, we demonstrate an optical isolator with isolation ratio better than 20 dB at a relatively low temperature of about 80 °C, and with a low magnetic field (∼800 Gauss). The obtained results provide another step forward in the quest for miniaturizing quantum devices. The demonstrated device shows that such miniaturized vapor cells can be considered for applications such as all-optical switching, optical quantum memory, frequency references, and magnetometry to name a few.