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Acta Physica Sinica

Fluorescence weakening due to radiation trapping in a high density cold-atom cloud

Shuyu Zhou, Zhen Ya Xu, Qu Qiu-Zhi, Zhou Shan-Yu, Liang Liu, Yuzhu Wang, 中国科学院上海光学精密机械研究所量子光学重点实验室,上海 201800

Published Jan 1, 2009• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have measured the change of fluorescence from cold 87Rb atoms after magnetic field of the magneto-optic trap is turn off. A rise in fluorescence within several tens of milliseconds was observed. Analyzing this phenomenon in connection with the experimental conditions, we found that incoherent pumping field due to radiation trapping in the high density cold-atom cloud was the reason of fluorescence weakening under tight confinement by the magneto-optic trap. We have also performed a simple numerical simulation, which indicated that the calculations agree with experimental results only when the effect of frequency redistribution of scattered light is taken into account.

DOI
10.7498/aps.58.1590

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We have measured the change of fluorescence from cold 87Rb atoms after magnetic field of the magneto-optic trap is turn off. A rise in fluorescence within several tens of milliseconds was observed. Analyzing this phenomenon in connection with the experimental conditions, we found that incoherent pumping field due to radiation trapping in the high density cold-atom cloud was the reason of fluorescence weakening under tight confinement by the magneto-optic trap. We have also performed a simple numerical simulation, which indicated that the calculations agree with experimental results only when the effect of frequency redistribution of scattered light is taken into account.
In this paper, we use steady-state measurements to obtain evidence of radiation trapping in an optically thick cloud of cold rubidium atoms. We investigate the fluorescence properties of our sample, pumped on opened transitions. This fluorescence exhibits a nontrivial dependence on the optical thickness of the media. A simplified model, based on rate equations, self-consistently coupled to a diffusive model of light transport, is used to explain the experimental observations in terms of incoherent radiation trapping on one spectral line. Measurements of the atomic populations and the fluorescence spectrum qualitatively agree with this interpretation.
NOTE: Text or symbols not renderable in plain ASCII are indicated by [...]. Abstract is included in .pdf document. Investigations of optical processes for laser cooled and trapped atoms are described. Fluorescence from Cs atoms in a magneto-optical trap is detected under conditions of very low atomic density. Discrete steps are observed in the fluorescent signal versus time and are associated with the arrival and departure of individual trapped atoms. Histograms of the frequency of occurrence of a given level of fluorescence exhibit a series of uniformly spaced peaks that are attributed to the presence of N = 0, 1, 2 atoms in the trap. In addition, numerical absorption and emission spectra for three-level [...], [...], and V systems under intense radiations are calculated. Absorption spectra for a [...] system is used to explain the probe-wave amplification and absorption spectra recorded for Cs atoms cooled and confined in a magneto-optical trap, in which novel spectral features of narrow frequency widths with single-pass gain exceeding 20% are observed. The consequence of the optical gain is demonstrated to lead to negative radiation pressure, which is investigated together with other mechanical forces in the trap. Various alternative trapping schemes in three-level and two-level atoms are proposed as possible means to compress an atomic sample and demonstrated for a two-level magneto-optical trap.
We present the observation of double stable clouds of cold trapped atoms in a magneto-optical trap and its explanation with a simple model based on radiative forces. This structure occurs for a specific misalignment of the trapping laser beams whose Gaussian profiles introduce an extra term in the equation of motion for the trapped atom. We were able to obtain simple analytical expressions for the trap potential and for the separation of the clouds, and carried out a numerical calculation which agrees well with the experimental observations.
We experimentally and numerically study the temporal dynamics of light scattered by large clouds of cold atoms after the exciting laser is switched off, in the low intensity (linear-optics) regime. Radiation trapping due to multiple scattering as well as subradiance lead to decay much slower than the single atom fluorescence decay. These two effects have already been observed separately, but the interplay between them remained to be understood. Here, we show that with well chosen parameters of the driving field, the two effects can occur at the same time, but follow different scaling behaviors. The subradiant decay is observed at late time and its rate is independent of the detuning, while the radiation trapping decay is observed at intermediate time and depends on the detuning through the optical depth of the sample. Numerical simulations based on random walk process and coupled-dipole equations support our interpretations. Our study clarifies the different interpretations and physical mechanisms at the origin of slow temporal dynamics of light in cold atoms.
Specific features of fluorescence of dense and cold nondegenerate atomic ensembles in an external constant magnetic field are analyzed theoretically. The angular distribution, polarization properties, as well as the spectral composition of fluorescence radiation are calculated. The time variation of these characteristics after the end of the excitation pulse is analyzed. The dependence of the properties of secondary radiation on the duration and carrier frequency of the pulse is investigated. It is shown that, for dense clouds in which the free path length of quasiresonance photons is commensurate with the interatomic distance, the magnetic field significantly modifies all the observable properties of the radiation. Under these conditions, the trapping time may increase by tens of times. Magnetic field enhances the effect of quantum beats observed on time scales commensurate with the lifetime of the excited states of atoms. For individual polarization channels, this field also intensifies the phenomenon of coherent backscattering (CBS). The phenomena found are explained by the effect of magnetic field on the character of resonance dipole–dipole interaction and, as a result, on the specific features of collective phenomena in dense atomic ensembles.
We study the emergence of a collective optical response of a cold and dense 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atomic cloud to a near-resonant low-intensity light when the atom number is gradually increased. Experimental observations are compared with microscopic stochastic simulations of recurrent scattering processes between the atoms that incorporate the atomic multilevel structure and the optical measurement setup. We analyze the optical response of an inhomogeneously broadened gas and find that the experimental observations of the resonance line shifts and the total collected scattered light intensity in cold atom clouds substantially deviate from those of thermal atomic ensembles, indicating strong light-induced resonant dipole-dipole interactions between the atoms. At high densities, the simulations also predict a significantly slower decay of light-induced excitations in cold than in thermal atom clouds. The role of dipole-dipole interactions is discussed in terms of resonant coupling examples and the collective radiative excitation eigenmodes of the system.