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arXiv:1310.7330 · Europhysics Letters (EPL)

Polarization-rotation resonances with subnatural widths using a control laser

Sapam Ranjita Chanu, Kanhaiya Pandey, Vineet Bharti, Ajay Wasan, Vasant Natarajan A

Published May 1, 2014• 4 citations
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Abstract

We demonstrate extremely narrow resonances for polarization rotation in an atomic vapor. The resonances are created using a strong control laser on the same transition, which polarizes the atoms due to optical pumping among the magnetic sublevels. As the power in the control laser is increased, successively higher-order nested polarization-rotation resonances are created, with progressively narrower linewidths. We study these resonances in the D 2 line of Rb in a room temperature vapor cell, and demonstrate a width of for the third-order rotation. The physical basis for the observed resonances is that optical pumping results in a simplified ΛV-type level structure with differential dressing of the levels by the control laser , which is why the control power has to be sufficiently high for each resonance to appear. This explanation is borne out by a density-matrix analysis of the system. The dispersive lineshape and subnatural width of the resonance lends itself naturally to applications such as laser locking to atomic transitions and precision measurements.

DOI
10.1209/0295-5075/106/43001

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We demonstrate extremely narrow resonances for polarization rotation in an atomic vapor. The resonances are created using a strong control laser on the same transition, which polarizes the atoms due to optical pumping among the magnetic sublevels. As the power in the control laser is increased, successively higher-order nested polarization-rotation resonances are created, with progressively narrower linewidths. We study these resonances in the D-2 line of Rb in a room temperature vapor cell, and demonstrate a width of 0.14 G for the third-order rotation. The physical basis for the observed resonances is that optical pumping results in a simplified. AV-type level structure with differential dressing of the levels by the control laser, which is why the control power has to be sufficiently high for each resonance to appear. This explanation is borne out by a density-matrix analysis of the system. The dispersive lineshape and subnatural width of the resonance lends itself naturally to applications such as laser locking to atomic transitions and precision measurements. Copyright (c) EPLA, 2014

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arXiv:2205.04925•Physical Review A•Jul 26, 2022•12 citations
We demonstrate extremely narrow resonances for polarization rotation in an atomic vapor. The resonances are created using a strong control laser on the same transition, which polarizes the atoms due to optical pumping among the magnetic sublevels. As the power in the control laser is increased, successively higher-order nested polarization-rotation resonances are created, with progressively narrower linewidths. We study these resonances in the D 2 line of Rb in a room temperature vapor cell, and demonstrate a width of for the third-order rotation. The physical basis for the observed resonances is that optical pumping results in a simplified ΛV-type level structure with differential dressing of the levels by the control laser , which is why the control power has to be sufficiently high for each resonance to appear. This explanation is borne out by a density-matrix analysis of the system. The dispersive lineshape and subnatural width of the resonance lends itself naturally to applications such as laser locking to atomic transitions and precision measurements.
We demonstrate extremely narrow resonances for polarization rotation in an atomic vapor. The resonances are created using a strong control laser on the same transition, which polarizes the atoms due to optical pumping among the magnetic sublevels. As the power in the control laser is increased, successively higher-order nested polarization-rotation resonances are created, with progressively narrower linewidths. We study these resonances in the D-2 line of Rb in a room temperature vapor cell, and demonstrate a width of 0.14 G for the third-order rotation. The physical basis for the observed resonances is that optical pumping results in a simplified. AV-type level structure with differential dressing of the levels by the control laser, which is why the control power has to be sufficiently high for each resonance to appear. This explanation is borne out by a density-matrix analysis of the system. The dispersive lineshape and subnatural width of the resonance lends itself naturally to applications such as laser locking to atomic transitions and precision measurements. Copyright (c) EPLA, 2014
Subnatural linewidth in a strongly-driven closed F→F′F \rightarrow F'F→F′ transition
We observe linewidths below the natural linewidth for a probe laser on a {\it two-level system}, when the same transition is driven by a strong control laser. We take advantage of the fact that each level is made of multiple magnetic sublevels, and use the phenomenon of electromagnetically induced transparency or absorption in multilevel systems. Optical pumping by the control laser redistributes the population so that only a few sublevels contribute to the probe absorption. We observe more than a factor of 3 reduction in linewidth in the D2D_2D2​ line of Rb in room-temperature vapor. The observations can be understood from a density-matrix analysis of the sublevel structure.
Subnatural-width resonances due to coherent effects in optical pumping at hyperfine (hf) transitions of Rb are investigated using a linearly or circularly polarized single-frequency diode laser beam. The sign and amplitude of the resonances in the fluorescence are measured by scanning the laser frequency over the hf transitions of the Rb D 1 and D 2 lines. The fluorescence perpendicular to the laser beam is detected as a function of magnetic field parallel to the beam propagation and scanned around zero value. In the case of linear polarization of the field, dark resonances are observed for hf transitions with F g → F e = F g -1 and F g → F e = F g , and bright resonances are observed for transitions with F g → F e = F g + 1. This is in agreement with the recently developed theories. For all (except F g = 2→ F e = 3, 85 Rb, D 1 line) hf transitions the sign of the resonances reverses when the polarization of the field changes to circular. The amplitudes of the resonances correspond to the probability of the hf transitions and to the calculated loss rate of the population to the ground hf level not excited by the laser field. The observed narrow resonances (FWHM: few tens of kHz) and their sensitivity to weak magnetic fields are interesting for high-resolution spectroscopy and for development of simple and precise magnetometers.
The subject of this thesis is the study of coherent interaction of light with matter (atoms) to improve the precision measurements and techniques. Special attention is drawn to get the narrow subnatural electromagnetically induced transmission (EIT), electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) and nonlinear magneto-optic rotation (NMOR) caused by alkali atoms contained in a vapor cell. Subnatural polarization rotation introduces by a strong circularly polarized light in the absence of any external magnetic field was also studied. A detailed theoretical treatment, given in this dissertation, allows to associate each of the features of the spectra with a special physical mechanism. Many quantum phenomena related to interferences, coherences, optical pumping etc. experiments are studied using home-built diode lasers. This thesis also describes laser cooling and trapping of rubidium atoms using two techniques. Deflection of cold atoms horizontally from MOT using pushing beams are discussed in close consideration for the improvements in the precision measurements. This thesis is organized as follows. In Chapter 1, an introduction to the importance of sub-natural narrow resonance and simplified technique in the precision measurement will be discussed. In Chapter 2, an introduction to EIT, EIA and NMOR resonance are discussed. This chapter will provide a basic theoretical background of atom-field interactions, especially for Λ-type and N -type systems and its steady state solution using density matrix analysis and experimental tools. The most important notion of laser cooling of atoms, ions or molecule i.e., exchange of momentum between light and atoms combining with the Doppler effect will be discussed. In Chapter 3, the observation of subnatural EIT and subnatural EIA in closed and open degenerate two-level system using room temperature vapor cell filled with Rb will be presented. Physical mechanisms that contribute to EIT and EIA, and the contrast of our results from the coherent population trapping (CPT)–type resonances are discussed in detail in appendix A.2 according to our experimental results. In Chapter 4, the narrowing of subnatural EIT and subnatural EIA linewidth in closed and open systems again in degenerate two level transition, using the “Laguerre-Gaussian” control beam instead of generally studied Gaussian beam, will be discussed in detail. In Chapter 5, the conversion between subnatural EIT to subnatural EIA in a degenerate Λ system will be discussed. The physical mechanism created by the introduction of a coherent counter propagating control laser to the co-propagating probe and the control laser are studied. The effect of polarization and axial velocity Doppler averaging will also be studied. In Chapter 6, we will discuss the sensitive technique for precise measurement of small magnetic fields using the NMOR, by chopping the resonant laser beam. We will study the sensitivity and the potential application of this technique in the measurement of an atomic electric-dipole moment. In Chapter 7, we will…
Abstract We present a theoretical and experimental study of the polarization rotation of a linearly polarized probe beam scanning across all of the neighboring hyperfine levels ( F e = 1 and 2) with a circularly polarized pumping beam resonant on the F g = 2 → F e = 3 transition of the D2 line of 87 Rb atoms. The experimental results match well with the results calculated from the full-level density matrix equations considering laser phase noise, which hinders observations of narrow lines with linewidths of ∼90 kHz, as calculated in polarization rotation spectra for the first time.
The ground-state Hanle effect (GSHE) in alkali-metal atomic vapor using a single circularly polarized light wave underlies one of the most reliable and simple techniques of modern atomic magnetometry. This effect causes a narrow (subnatural-width) resonance in the light wave intensity passing through the vapor cell. The GSHE-based sensors typically operate in the so-called spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) regime to reduce the resonance linewidth. However, this regime requires a relatively high temperature of vapors (approximately equal to $150{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}\mathrm{C}$), leading to high heat release and power consumption of the sensor head. In addition, without applying special measures, the SERF regime significantly limits the dynamic range of measurements. Here we study a pump-probe scheme involving a single elliptically polarized light wave and a polarimetric detection technique. The wave is in resonance with two adjacent optical transitions in the cesium D1{D}_{1}D1​ line ($\ensuremath{\lambda}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\approx}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}894.5$ nm) due to their overlap in the presence of a buffer gas (130 Torr neon). Using a small ($V\ensuremath{\approx}0.1\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}$) glass vapor cell, we demonstrate the possibility to observe subnatural-width resonances with a high contrast-to-width ratio (up to 45%/mG) in low-temperature ($60{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}\mathrm{C}$) operation due to strong light-induced circular dichroism in the medium. Based on the $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ scheme of atomic energy levels, we obtain explicit analytical expressions for the shape of the resonance line. The model reveals a linewidth narrowing effect due to openness of the level scheme. The observed bright features are unusual for magneto-optical atomic spectroscopy as openness is commonly considered to be an undesirable effect that degrades resonance characteristics. Measuring the noise voltage, we estimate the sensitivity of the magnetic-field measurements to be 1.8 pT/Hz\mathrm{pT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}pT/Hz​ with a sensitivity of 60 fT/Hz\mathrm{fT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}fT/Hz​ in the photon-shot-noise limit. In general, the results contribute to the theory of GSHE resonances and also can be applied to development of a low-temperature high-sensitivity miniaturized magnetic-field sensor with an extended dynamic range.