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arXiv:1712.10156 · Applied Optics

Doppler-free spectroscopy of metastable Sr atoms using a hollow cathode lamp

Yusuke Hayakawa, Takumi Sato, Chika Watanabe, Takatoshi Aoki, Yoshio Torii

Published Feb 15, 2018• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We report on the demonstration of Doppler-free spectroscopy of metastable Sr atoms using a hollow cathode lamp (HCL). We employed a custom Sr HCL, which is filled with a mixture of 0.5 Torr Ne and 0.5 Torr Xe as a buffer gas to suppress velocity changing collisions and increase the populations in all of the (5s5p)3PJ(J=0,1,2) metastable states. We performed frequency modulation spectroscopy for the (5s5p)3P0−(5s6s)3S1, (5s5p)3P1−(5s6s)3S1, (5s5p)3P2−(5s5d)3D2, and (5s5p)3P2−(5s5d)3D3 transitions with sufficient signal-to-noise ratios for laser frequency stabilization. We also observed the hyperfine transitions of (5s5p)3P2−(5s5d)3D3 of Sr87. This method would greatly facilitate laser cooling of Sr.

DOI
10.1364/ao.57.001450

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We report on the demonstration of Doppler-free spectroscopy of metastable Sr atoms using a hollow cathode lamp (HCL). We employed a custom Sr HCL, which is filled with a mixture of 0.5 Torr Ne and 0.5 Torr Xe as a buffer gas to suppress velocity changing collisions and increase the populations in all of the (5s5p)3PJ(J=0,1,2) metastable states. We performed frequency modulation spectroscopy for the (5s5p)3P0−(5s6s)3S1, (5s5p)3P1−(5s6s)3S1, (5s5p)3P2−(5s5d)3D2, and (5s5p)3P2−(5s5d)3D3 transitions with sufficient signal-to-noise ratios for laser frequency stabilization. We also observed the hyperfine transitions of (5s5p)3P2−(5s5d)3D3 of Sr87. This method would greatly facilitate laser cooling of Sr.
Abstract In this work we perform polarization spectroscopy of erbium atoms in a hollow cathode lamp (HCL). We review the theory behind Doppler-free polarization spectroscopy, theoretically model the expected erbium polarization spectra, and compare the numerically calculated spectra to our experimental data. We further analyze the dependence of the measured spectra on the HCL current and the peak intensities of our pump and probe lasers to determine conditions. Applications include wavelength stabilization of diode laser radiation to the 400.91 nm erbium transition.
The Faraday anomalous dispersion optical filter (FADOF), which has acquired wide applications, is mainly limited to some gaseous elements and low melting-point metals before, for the restriction of the attainable atomic density. In conventional FADOF systems a high atomic density is usually achieved by thermal equilibrium at the saturated vapor pressure, hence for elements with high melting-points a high temperature is required. To avoid this restriction, we propose a scheme of FADOF based on the hollow cathode lamp (HCL), instead of atomic vapor cells. Experimental results in strontium atoms verified this scheme, where a transmission peak corresponding to the (88)Sr (5s(2))(1)S0 - (5s5p)(1)P1 transition (461 nm) is obtained, with a maximum transmittance of 62.5% and a bandwith of 1.19 GHz. The dependence of transmission on magnetic field and HCL discharge current is also studied. Since the state-of-art commercial HCLs cover about 70 elements, this scheme can greatly expand the applications of FADOFs, and the abundant atomic transitions they provide bring the HCL based FADOFs potential applications for frequency stabilization.
We develop a laser system with a wavelength of 461 nm and a power of 175 mW using a master oscillation power amplifier (MOPA) system and second-harmonic generation (SHG) via a KNbO 3 crystal. To stabilize the laser frequency to the atomic absorption line, we measured the saturated absorption spectrum of a Sr hollow-cathode lamp. The dependences of the Lamb dip signal and the frequency modulation spectrum on the pump beam power were observed. The collision broadening due to the Ne buffer gas increased the observed width of the signals in addition to the saturation effect. In spite of such an increased width (∼100 MHz), we demonstrated stable magneto-optical trapping of Sr atoms. The number of atoms obtained, 1×10 7 , is sufficient to proceed to various ultracold Sr atoms experiments.
We report a robust method of stabilizing a laser to the frequency of an atomic transition using a hollow cathode lamp. In contrast to the standard dichroic atomic vapor laser lock method, which uses dichroism induced by a longitudinal magnetic field, we employ birefringence induced by a transversal magnetic field. We applied this method to the ( 5 s 2 ) 1 S 0 − ( 5 s 5 p ) 1 P 1 transition (461 nm) of Sr. Although the hollow cathode is made of ferromagnetic material, we successfully applied a magnetic field of sufficient strength to obtain an error signal with a theoretical maximum slope. This method may be applied to other hollow cathode lamps of different atomic species.
We report on Doppler-free frequency modulation spectroscopy and polarization spectroscopy in a discharge heat pipe of yet unexplored transitions connecting the metastable 3P2(4s4p)^{3}P_{2}(4s4p)3P2​(4s4p) state of calcium atoms with the multiply excited states 3P2(4p4p)^{3}P_{2}(4p4p)3P2​(4p4p) and 3D3(4s3d)^{3}D_{3}(4s3d)3D3​(4s3d). Calcium vapor is efficiently produced in a heat pipe operating in a small Pyrex cell filled with 2torr2\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{torr}2torr of neon. A dc discharge running at 500V500\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{V}500V efficiently populates the metastable triplet states. Narrow resonances with bandwidths of a few tens of MHz with excellent signal-to-noise ratios are observed, well suited as references for laser frequency stabilization. Examination of the Zeeman shifts lets us determine the Land\'e ggg factors of the excited states and compare them with the predictions based on the Russel-Saunders coupling scheme. We describe an economic, simple, and robust experimental setup that should work for other alkaline-earth-metal atoms like Mg and Sr, as well as for other solid elements with insufficient vapor pressures at room temperature.