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arXiv:1212.5189 · Applied Optics

Transmission degradation and preservation for tapered optical fibers in rubidium vapor

Meimei Lai, J. D. Franson, T. B. Pittman

Published Apr 11, 2013• 24 citations
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Abstract

The use of subwavelength diameter tapered optical fibers (TOFs) in warm rubidium vapor has recently been identified as a promising system for realizing ultralow-power nonlinear optical effects. However, at the relatively high atomic densities needed for many of these experiments, rubidium atoms accumulating on the TOF surface can cause a significant loss of overall transmission through the fiber. Here we report direct measurements of the time scale associated with this transmission degradation for various rubidium density conditions. Transmission is affected almost immediately after the introduction of rubidium vapor into the system, and declines rapidly as the density is increased. More significantly, we show how a heating element designed to raise the TOF temperature can be used to reduce this transmission loss and dramatically extend the effective TOF transmission lifetime.

DOI
10.1364/ao.52.002595

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The use of subwavelength diameter tapered optical fibers (TOFs) in warm rubidium vapor has recently been identified as a promising system for realizing ultralow-power nonlinear optical effects. However, at the relatively high atomic densities needed for many of these experiments, rubidium atoms accumulating on the TOF surface can cause a significant loss of overall transmission through the fiber. Here we report direct measurements of the time scale associated with this transmission degradation for various rubidium density conditions. Transmission is affected almost immediately after the introduction of rubidium vapor into the system, and declines rapidly as the density is increased. More significantly, we show how a heating element designed to raise the TOF temperature can be used to reduce this transmission loss and dramatically extend the effective TOF transmission lifetime.
In this work, we describe experimental research on a relatively new nonlinear optics system comprised of a sub-wavelength diameter Tapered Optical Fiber (TOF) suspended in atomic Rubidium (Rb) vapor. The compression of the evanescent optical mode propagating along the TOF enables a dramatic increase in the nonlinear interactions between the fields and the surrounding Rb atoms, thereby allowing the observation of a variety of nonlinear optical effects with very low-power fields. Specifically, we report on the observation of saturated absorption with nW power levels and, more significantly, the observation of two-photon absorption using power-levels corresponding to only 10's to 100's of photons interacting with the Rb atoms at a given time. One significant drawback to this TOF in Rb system is that at the relatively high atomic densities needed for many of these experiments, Rb atoms accumulating on the TOF surface can cause a significant loss of overall transmission through the fiber. Here we report direct measurements of the time-scale associated with this transmission degradation for various Rb density conditions. We find that transmission is affected almost immediately after the introduction of Rb vapor into the system, and declines rapidly as the density is increased. More significantly, we show how a heating element designed to raise the TOF temperature can be used to reduce this transmission loss and dramatically extend the effective TOF transmission lifetime. Our results indicate that it is possible to achieve relatively high TOF transmission, even in the presence of the relatively high Rb vapor densities that would be needed for many low-power nonlinear optics applications. This study represents a significant step in moving the basic TOF in Rb system from a laboratory setting towards a practical ultra-low-power nonlinear optics device.
Subwavelength-diameter tapered optical fibers surrounded by rubidium vapor can undergo a substantial decrease in transmission at high atomic densities due to the accumulation of rubidium atoms on the surface of the fiber. Here we demonstrate the ability to control these changes in transmission using light guided within the taper. We observe transmission through a tapered fiber that is a nonlinear function of the incident power. This effect can also allow a strong control beam to change the transmission of a weak probe beam.
We experimentally investigate ultralow-power saturation of the rubidium D2 transitions using a tapered optical fiber (TOF) suspended in a warm Rb vapor. A direct comparison of power-dependent absorption measurements for the TOF system with those obtained in a standard free-space vapor cell system highlights the differences in saturation behavior for the two systems. The effects of hyperfine pumping in the TOF system are found to be minimized due to the short atomic transit times through the highly confined evanescent optical mode guided by the TOF. The TOF system data are well-fit by a relatively simple empirical absorption model that indicates nanoWatt-level saturation powers.