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Physical Review A

Velocity selective optical pumping and dark resonances in selective reflection spectroscopy

B. Gross, Nicolas Papageorgiou, Vladimir A. Sautenkov, Antoine Weis

Published Apr 1, 1997• 17 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report an experimental investigation of selective reflection spectra using a bichromatic field with a resonant \ensuremath{\Lambda}-type coupling to the ${\mathrm{D}}_{1}$ transition of Rb vapor atoms. The reflection spectra are found to have a more complex structure than equivalent spectra in transmission experiments. This structure is traced back to the effect of wall collisions on velocity selective optical pumping and saturation processes. The spectral line shapes are well described by a theoretical model developed in the text. In addition we report the observation of dark resonances in reflection spectroscopy.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.55.2973

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Journal de physique•Jan 1, 1976•114 citations
We report an experimental investigation of selective reflection spectra using a bichromatic field with a resonant \ensuremath{\Lambda}-type coupling to the D1{\mathrm{D}}_{1}D1​ transition of Rb vapor atoms. The reflection spectra are found to have a more complex structure than equivalent spectra in transmission experiments. This structure is traced back to the effect of wall collisions on velocity selective optical pumping and saturation processes. The spectral line shapes are well described by a theoretical model developed in the text. In addition we report the observation of dark resonances in reflection spectroscopy.
We have observed that spectral lines obtained in sodium vapor can be strongly distroted when using two-photon spectroscopy with a resonant intermediate state. In some cases, the spectral lines appear to be split into two components. We demonstrate that these effects are due to velocity-selective optical pumping of the atomic ground state; the line shapes reflect the velocity distribution of atoms in the excited intermediate state. We have analyzed the effects using the time-dependent solutions of the rate equations which describe the time evolution of optical pumping for the various atomic velocity groups, and we obtain good agreement with experiment. Optical-pumping problems are often analyzed with the use of steady-state rate equations which incorporate phenomenological relaxation; such approaches are not capable of describing our observations. Velocity-changing collisions are shown to suppress the effects and they explain why these effects were not previously observed; the previous experiments were carried out with slight amounts of a buffer gas in the vapor cell. The effects reported here must be accounted for when carrying out laser-induced line-narrowing experiments in atoms or molecules that can be optically pumped; they can also be used as a new and more sensitive probe of optical pumping in vapors.
We report an experimental investigation of the effect of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) using bichromatic laser radiation and an extremely thin cell filled with pure Rb with smoothly controllable thickness LLL of the atomic vapor layer in the range $\ensuremath{\sim}780--1600\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm}$, for which LLL is comparable to the laser wavelength $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ resonant with the D2{D}_{2}D2​ line (780nm)(780\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm})(780nm). It is revealed that the transmission spectrum of the probe laser contains two sub-Doppler peaks that have different linewidths. The narrow peak corresponds to EIT, whereas the broader one results from velocity-selective optical pumping (VSOP) and repumping processes. It is demonstrated that in the case of nonzero detuning of the coupling laser, the EIT resonance and VSOP are shifted with respect to each other on the frequency scale, which makes it possible to observe a competition between the two effects (this is not possible to realize in an ordinary cell). Also, the Dicke-type coherent narrowing effect depending on the ratio $L∕\ensuremath{\lambda}$ influences the absorption spectrum of the probe laser. Formation of an EIT resonance is substantially favored for the atoms with slow normal velocity, caused by their longer interaction time with the bichromatic laser field. As a result of the predominant contribution of these atoms, the observed linewidth of the EIT resonance is only $\ensuremath{\sim}9\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MHz}$, which is more than ten times narrower than the inverse window-to-window flight time. In an external magnetic field, three and five EIT resonances have been observed for the vapor thickness of $L=2\ensuremath{\lambda}$, on 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb and 85Rb^{85}\mathrm{Rb}85Rb, respectively.
Ultra-narrow cells with the thicknesses in the range from several wavelengths to the small fractions of the wavelength brought a number of new opportunities for atomic spectroscopy. Depending on the cell thickness, spectral lines recorded in ultra-narrow cells are either Doppler-free or Doppler-broadened. With careful selection of the cell thickness hyperfine structure may be easily resolved without resorting on the multibeam nonlinear optical techniques. Moreover, frequent collisions with the walls leads to the important modifications of velocity selective optical pumping resonances. Finally, ultra-narrow cells provide with the unique opportunity to study collisions of the excited atoms with the solid surfaces. In this contribution several examples of the use of the ultra-narrow spectroscopic cells filled with the alkali atomic vapour is presented. First, we discuss general aspects of the transient polarisation that defines all peculiarities of an ultra-narrow cell as a spectroscopic tool. Second, we demonstrate the resolution of the magnetic sublevels in the transition from Zeeman to Paschen-Back regime in the Cs hyperfine structure. Third, new aspects of velocity selective optical pumping resonances in reflection and transmission of resonant radiation by the 6 wavelengths thick cell filled with Cs are discussed. Forth, the experimental evidences of the nonadiabatic transitions between excited states of Rb atoms in the course of collisions with the sapphire surface are presented.
Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) resonance, along with peculiarities of the accompanying velocity selective optical pumping/saturation (VSOP) resonances, have been studied using a thin cell with the thickness of Rb vapor column varying in L = 10-700 &mgr;m range, as well as using an extremely thin cell (ETC) with the thickness varying in the range of radiation wavelength &lgr; = 780 nm (L = 0.5&lgr; - 2.5&lgr;). The &Lgr;-systems on D2 line of 85Rb and 87Rb have been studied experimentally with the use of bichromatic radiation of two separate diode lasers. It is demonstrated that size-conditioned strongly anisotropic contribution of atoms with different velocities in ETC results in several dramatic distinctions in formation of EIT and VSOP resonances in ETC, as compared with ordinary cm-size cell. The boundary between these two regimes falls on L ~ 10 &mgr;m. Theoretical model taking into account the peculiarities of the transmission spectra as a function of the ratio L/&lgr; is developed. The experimental transmission spectra are well described by the theoretical model.