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arXiv:1401.6208 · Optics Letters

Saturated-absorption spectroscopy revisited: atomic transitions in strong magnetic fields (>20 mT) with a micrometer-thin cell

Armen D. Sargsyan, A. Tonoyan, R. Mirzoyan, David G. Sarkisyan, Adam M. Wojciechowski, Artur Stabrawa, Wojciech Gawlik

Published Apr 4, 2014• 57 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The existence of crossover resonances makes saturated-absorption (SA) spectra very complicated when external magnetic field B is applied. It is demonstrated for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that the use of micrometric-thin cells (MTCs, L≈40 μm) allows application of SA for quantitative studies of frequency splitting and shifts of the Rb atomic transitions in a wide range of external magnetic fields, from 0.2 up to 6 kG (20-600 mT). We compare the SA spectra obtained with the MTC with those obtained with other techniques and present applications for optical magnetometry with micrometer spatial resolution and a broadly tunable optical frequency lock.

DOI
10.1364/ol.39.002270

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The existence of crossover resonances makes saturated-absorption (SA) spectra very complicated when external magnetic field B is applied. It is demonstrated for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that the use of micrometric-thin cells (MTCs, L≈40 μm) allows application of SA for quantitative studies of frequency splitting and shifts of the Rb atomic transitions in a wide range of external magnetic fields, from 0.2 up to 6 kG (20-600 mT). We compare the SA spectra obtained with the MTC with those obtained with other techniques and present applications for optical magnetometry with micrometer spatial resolution and a broadly tunable optical frequency lock.
Abstract It is demonstrated that the use of a micrometric thin 39 K vapor cell (MTC) and saturated absorption (SA) spectroscopy allows the formation of narrow atomic lines in the transmission spectrum without unwanted cross-over resonances. Another important feature is the small characteristic magnetic field value B 0 = A h f / μ B of 39 K, significantly smaller than for Rb and Cs. As a consequence, decoupling of J and I can be observed at relatively low magnetic fields ∼300 G, which results in the formation of two groups of four spectrally-resolved and equidistantly-positioned atomic transitions having the same amplitude (each group corresponds to a given circular polarization σ ± ) which we record using a simple experimental setup with a linearly polarized tunable diode-laser and a longitudinal magnetic field obtained with two permanent magnets. Fabrication of a MTC is much easier than the fabrication of the 39 K nanocells used in our previous works. A simple method to determine the magnitude of a wide range of B -fields with a spatial resolution of 30 µ m is presented, which is intrinsically calibrated and does not require a frequency reference.
Abstract In strong magnetic fields (0.1–6 kG), many atomic lines closely spaced in frequency appear in the absorption spectrum of alkali metal vapors. Due to the small frequency interval between them and the Doppler broadening of the atomic lines, they are overlapped. For spectral separation and study of individual atomic lines, it is necessary to ensure their spectral narrowing. It is shown that this can be done using the saturated absorption method in an atomic vapor contained in a 30 μm-thick cell filled with Rb vapor. All 10 atomic transitions of Rb D1 line are spectrally very well resolved in the second derivative of the saturated absorption spectrum. Complete resolution of atomic transitions makes this method useful for the determination of a wide range of magnetic fields. The theoretical curves describe the experimental results very well.
Micrometric-thin cells (MCs) with alkali vapor atoms have been valuable for research and applications of hyperfine Zeeman splitting and atomic magnetometers under strong magnetic fields. We theoretically and experimentally study the saturated absorption spectra using a 100-μm cesium MC, where the pump and probe beams are linearly polarized with mutually perpendicular polarizations, and the magnetic field is along the pump beam. Because of the distinctive thin chamber of the MC, crossover spectral lines in saturated absorption spectra are largely suppressed leading to clear splittings of hyperfine Zeeman transitions in experiments, and the effect of spatial magnetic field gradient is expected to be reduced. A calculation method is proposed to achieve good agreements between theoretical calculations and experimental results. This method successfully explains the suppression of crossover lines in MCs, as well as the effects of magnetic field direction, propagation and polarization directions of the pump/probe beam on saturated absorption spectrum. The saturated absorption spectrum with suppressed crossover lines is used for laser frequency stabilization, which may provide the potential value of MCs for high spatial resolution strong-field magnetometry with high sensitivity.
The energy levels of atoms placed in an external magnetic field undergo frequency shifts and changes in their transition probabilities. It is demonstrated that using fluorescence spectra from a submicron thin vapour cell (STC) with the thickness L = λ/2, it is possible to efficiently study the above mentioned changes (“half-λ Zeeman technique” (HLZT)). The circularly polarized beam of extended-cavity diode laser (λ = 794 nm, laser bandwidth γL < 1 MHz) resonant with 87Rb D1 transition, after passing through Faraday isolator is directed onto the Rb STC with the thickness L = λ/2. The temperature of the STC is 120 °C, corresponding to N ~ 1013 atom/cm3. STC was provided by a special oven with 3 openings: 2 inlets for laser beam passage, and one orthogonal inlet for side fluorescence detection. This geometry allows simultaneous recording of fluorescence and transmission spectra. STC with the oven is placed between two strong permanent ring magnets and by changing the distance between them it is possible to form a strong magnetic field up to 4500 G. In [1], “λ-Zeeman technique” (LZT) is shown to be efficient to study individual transitions between the Zeeman sublevels of hyperfine levels in an external magnetic field up to 2400 G. LZT uses STC with thickness L = λ, where λ is 794 nm (780 nm) for D1 line (D2 line) of Rb. Narrow velocity selective optical pumping/saturation (VSOP) resonances in the transmission spectrum of the STC are split into several components in the magnetic field; their frequency positions and probabilities depend on the B-field. We present comparison of HLZT and LZT in a wide region of magnetic fields up to 4500 G. We present the fluorescence spectrum for L = λ/2 and the transmission spectrum for L = λ. The VSOP resonances in the LZT-curve are narrower meanwhile the advantage of HLZT is that the fluorescence appears on a flat background. Applications such as magnetometer with high spatial resolution and the theoretical model describing well the experiment will be presented.
Sub-Doppler nature of atomic spectra in alkali metal vapor cells of nanometric thickness L (nanocells) allows one to study peculiarities of magneto-optical processes, which occur in a magnetic field for the case when L is of the order of λ (λ is a laser resonant wavelength). We particularly address the issues of practical implementation of the studied processes. The following results are presented. i) A "λ-Zeeman technique" exploiting velocity-selective optical pumping resonances in L = λ Rb cell placed in a B-field, which allows direct determination frequency shifts and modification of transition probabilities of individual Zeeman transitions in magnetic field and is applicable for development of wide-range (~ 0.1 - 1000 mT) optical magnetometers and tunable frequency reference. ii) A technique for locking the laser radiation frequency, B-field-tunable in ~ 500 MHz range, which is based on selective reflection of a circularly-polarized laser beam from Rb vapor cell with thickness L ≈ λ/2.
We describe the so-called "Lambda-Zeeman method" to investigate individual hyperfine transitions between Zeeman sublevels of atoms in an external magnetic field of 0.1 mT - 0.25 T. Atoms are confined in a nanocell with thickness L = Lambda, where Lambda is the resonant wavelength (794 nm or 780 nm for D1 or D2 line of Rb). Narrow resonances in the transmission spectrum of the nanocell are split into several components in a magnetic field; their frequency positions and probabilities depend on the B-field. Possible applications are described, such as magnetometers with nanometric spatial resolution and tunable atomic frequency references.