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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics

Multilevel dark states: coherent population trapping by elliptically polarized (possibly incoherent) light

Valery Milner, Yehiam Prior

Published Nov 27, 2002• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Summary form only given.We present here the first experimental proof for the existence of elliptical dark states (EDS), the multilevel analog of the well known three-level dark states. We demonstrate that an ensemble of multilevel atoms, when prepared by elliptically polarized light, becomes transparent to probe light of the same polarization. The effect stems from laser-induced coherences between many ground-state magnetic sublevels that reflect the polarization of the light that had created the dark state. The novelty and essential character of the dark states are elucidated by the experimental demonstration of their creation by incoherent light. The experiments were performed in a Na atomic beam.

DOI
10.1109/iqec.1998.680411

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Summary form only given.We present here the first experimental proof for the existence of elliptical dark states (EDS), the multilevel analog of the well known three-level dark states. We demonstrate that an ensemble of multilevel atoms, when prepared by elliptically polarized light, becomes transparent to probe light of the same polarization. The effect stems from laser-induced coherences between many ground-state magnetic sublevels that reflect the polarization of the light that had created the dark state. The novelty and essential character of the dark states are elucidated by the experimental demonstration of their creation by incoherent light. The experiments were performed in a Na atomic beam.
We present the first experimental proof for the existence of elliptical dark states, the multilevel analog of the well known three-level dark states. An ensemble of multilevel atoms, when prepared by elliptically polarized light, becomes transparent to probe light of the same polarization. The effect stems from laser-induced coherences between many ground-state magnetic sublevels which reflect the polarization of the light that had created the dark state. The novelty and essential character of the dark states are elucidated by the experimental demonstration of their creation by incoherent light. It is anticipated that elliptical dark states will play an important role in the laser cooling and manipulation of molecules.
We report an experimental observation of coherent population trapping in multilevel dark states prepared in the ground hyperfine states of 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms confined in a room-temperature vapor cell. The dark states are created by a linearly polarized coupling laser that is tuned to the 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb D1{D}_{1}D1​ $F=2\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}{F}^{\ensuremath{'}}=1$ or 2 transition and establishes \ensuremath{\Lambda}-type transition chains. The Doppler shift for the \ensuremath{\Lambda}-type transition chains is compensated by the left and right circularly polarized components of the coupling laser. The multilevel dark states that consist of three or two magnetic sublevels among the five degenerate magnetic sublevels in the F=2F=2F=2 ground hyperfine state are probed by a weak probe laser scanned across the same D1{D}_{1}D1​ transition and their existence is manifested by a strong dependence of the probe excitation on the probe polarization. Our experiment demonstrates the importance of coherent population trapping in a laser coupled degenerate multilevel open atomic system, which may play an important role in diverse physical phenomena such as atom cooling and trapping, optical pumping, and multiple laser excitation and ionization of atoms and molecules.
We report an experimental study of coherent population trapping and four-wave mixing via multilevel dark states prepared in the ground hyperfine states of 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms. The dark states are created by \ensuremath{\Lambda}-type coupling chains driven by a linearly polarized pump laser tuned to the D1{D}_{1}D1​ $F=2\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}{F}^{\ensuremath{'}}=1$ transition. The Doppler shift in the coupling chains is compensated by the left- and right-circularly polarized components of the pump laser. The multilevel dark states are explored by a probe laser and their existence is manifested by a strong dependence of the probe excitation and four-wave-mixing emission on the probe polarization. Our experiment shows that coherent population trapping in multilevel dark states of a degenerate atomic system should be useful in the coherence control of optical nonlinearity.
Summary form only given. The phenomenon of "dark resonances" or coherent population trapping is a well known concept in optics and laser spectroscopy. It can be considered as the basis for such effects as electromagnetically induced transparency and lasing without inversion. We report the observation of the novel spectral features which arise in systems where multiple quantum superposition states are coupled and interact coherently. These novel resonances correspond to the recently predicted "double-dark states". In the experiment, an optically thin ensemble of rubidium-37 atoms in zero magnetic field is excited in a /spl Lambda/ configuration with circularly polarized light from a pair of 789 nm diode lasers.
Coherent-population trapping, heretofore realized in closed systems, is also possible in highly degenerate open molecular systems. We consider a rovibrational molecular transition, where the ground magnetic m -sublevels are coupled to the corresponding upper states, and are therefore expected to be emptied after a few lifetimes. We show that upon excitation by elliptically polarized light, the population remains trapped in a coherent superposition of ground-state sublevels which does not interact further with the exciting light. Unlike the simple cases of linearly and circularly polarized light and of a closed three-level system ( i.e. atoms), here the trapping level is not the one with | m | = 0, J , but rather a combination of several states, which depends on the ellipticity of the exciting light.
Coherent-population trapping, heretofore realized in closed systems, is also possible in highly degenerate open molecular systems. We consider a rovibrational molecular transition, where the ground magnetic m-sublevels are coupled to the corresponding upper states, and are therefore expected to be emptied after a few lifetimes. We show that upon excitation by elliptically polarized light, the population remains trapped in a coherent superposition of ground-state sublevels which does not interact further with the exciting light. Unlike the simple cases of linearly and circularly polarized light and of a closed three-level system (i.e. atoms), here the trapping level is not the one with |m| = 0,J, but rather a combination of several states, which depends on the ellipticity of the exciting light.