Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Europhysics Letters (EPL)

Detection of slow atoms in laser spectroscopy of a thin vapor film

S. Briaudeau, Daniel Bloch, M. Ducloy

Published Aug 10, 1996• 90 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on high-resolution single-light-beam transmission spectroscopy through an ultra thin vapor cell (thickness 10–100 μm). In addition to the expected Doppler-broadened absorption, a novel sub-Doppler structure is observed under normal incidence irradiation. This structure originates from the optical response of atoms with very small velocity components perpendicular to the cell walls, and is connected with the transient atom excitation regime during the wall-to-wall time of flight. In experiments performed in Cs vapor, the slow mechanism of optical pumping leads, for weak light intensities (10–100 μW/cm 2 ) and a 10 μm cell, to a velocity selection equivalent to an effective 1D temperature in the sub-mK range.

DOI
10.1209/epl/i1996-00116-1

Related papers

Sub-Doppler spectroscopy in a thin film of resonant vapor

S. Briaudeau, Daniel Bloch, M. Ducloy

We report on the spectroscopy in a resonant vapor film, in a regime in which the inhomogeneous transit time induces a velocity selection. For cell thickness (10--1000 \ensuremath{\mu}m) smaller than the transverse dimensions and for low enough atomic density, the atomic trajectories are essentially free flights from wall to wall. Hence, a single laser beam irradiation is sufficient to observe sub-Doppler resonances because of the transient atomic response, which enhances the response of the slowest atoms flying nearly parallel to the wall. The peculiar features of this velocity selection are presented in the linear regime as well as in the case of saturation induced by the optical pumping. Also, we report, in the case of the Cs ${D}_{2}$ line (852 nm), on the passage from a two-level linear-response regime to an optical pumping regime when increasing the incident intensity. We also describe the influence of several other parameters, including cell thickness and laser beam size and shape, on the experimental line shapes. An extension to Doppler-free polarization spectroscopy in a thin cell with a single beam, and to saturated absorption, is also reported.

Physical Review A•May 1, 1999•87 citations

Coherent Doppler narrowing in a thin vapor cell: Observation of the Dicke regime in the optical domain

S. Briaudeau, Solomon M. Saltiel, Gerard Nienhuis +2 more

Single light beam transmission spectroscopy in an ultrathin dilute vapor cell (10--100 \ensuremath{\mu}m) reveals sub-Doppler features. Indeed, atoms with fast (normal) velocity undergo a short interaction between the cell walls, and are shown to be less absorbing because they have not reached their steady state of interaction with light. The effect is observed in the linear-response regime with a simple two-level system, as ensured from the ultralow level of light irradiation ($<~1\ensuremath{\mu}{\mathrm{W}/\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}^{2}$ for the Cs ${D}_{2}$ line). The effect, known for a long time in the microwave domain, is demonstrated here in the optical domain, and is extended to cell thicknesses large relative to the optical wavelength.

Physical Review A•May 1, 1998•75 citations

Linear-absorption spectroscopy in a resonant thin vapor film: from Dicke-type sub-Doppler resonances to Levy statistics

S. Briaudeau, Solomon M. Saltiel, Daniel Bloch +1 more

Summary form only given.We show that a sub-Doppler phenomenon, which is a consequence of the anisotropy of the atomic free flight, is quite general and can even be observed in the weak-field limit as due to the transient coherent regime on a resonant two level system. In the experiment, we send an ultra low power beam of a tunable FM laser on a thick Cs cell and synchronously detect the modulated transmission.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics•Nov 27, 2002•0 citations

Backward-emitted sub-Doppler fluorescence from an optically thick atomic vapor

J. C. de Aquino Carvalho, Athanasios Laliotis, Martine Chevrollier +2 more

Literature mentions only incidentally a sub-Doppler contribution in the excitation spectrum of the backward fluorescence of a dense vapor. This contribution is here investigated on Cs vapor, both on the first resonance line (894 nm) and on the weaker second resonance line (459 nm). We show that in a strongly absorbing medium, the quenching of excited atoms moving towards a window irradiated under near normal incidence reduces the fluorescence on the red side of the excitation spectrum. Atoms moving slowly towards the window produce a sub-Doppler velocity-selective contribution, whose visibility is here improved by applying a frequency-modulation technique. This sub-Doppler feature, induced by a surface quenching combined with a short absorption length for the incident irradiation, exhibits close analogies with the narrow spectra appearing with thin vapor cells. We also show that a normal incidence irradiation is essential for the sub-Doppler feature to be observed, while it should be independent of the detection geometry.

arXiv:1710.01665•Physical Review A•Oct 4, 2017•8 citations

Collapse and revival of a Dicke-type coherent narrowing in a sub-micron thick vapor cell transmission spectroscopy

G. Dutier, Alexander Yarovitski, Solomon M. Saltiel +4 more

In a thin cell of dilute vapour, the absorption spectrum exhibits sub-Doppler features due to the relative enhancement of the slow atom contribution, with respect to the transient nature of the interaction with moving atoms. For a two-level system in the linear regime, the narrowest response is predicted to be found for a λ/2 thickness, as an effect of the coherent character of the dipole response as early described by Romer and Dicke ( Phys. Rev. , 99 (1955) 532) in the microwave regime. We report here on the direct observation of this effect in the optical regime in an ultra-thin vapour cell. This effect is shown to vanish for a thickness equal to λ, and a revival is observed at 3λ/2, as expected from the predicted λ-periodicity. The experiment is performed on the D 1 resonance line of Cs vapour (λ = 894 nm), in a specially designed cell, whose thickness varies locally.

Europhysics Letters (EPL)•Jul 1, 2003•120 citations

Temperature and excitation power influence on the velocity-selective optical pumping resonances of 133Cs atoms confined in an extremely thin cell

T. A. Vartanyan, В. А. Полищук, Armen D. Sargsyan +3 more

Linear and nonlinear absorption spectra of 133 Cs vapor confined in an extremely thin cell were computed via iterations with respect to the resonance radiation intensity. When the incident radiation intensity is low, the transient polarization of the atoms that undergo frequent collisions with the cell walls leads to sub-Doppler features in the absorption spectra. Higher incident radiation intensities result in the appearance of velocity-selective optical pumping resonances. The theory developed agrees quantitatively with the experimental findings.

Journal of Physics Conference Series•Mar 1, 2018•0 citations
We report on high-resolution single-light-beam transmission spectroscopy through an ultra thin vapor cell (thickness 10–100 μm). In addition to the expected Doppler-broadened absorption, a novel sub-Doppler structure is observed under normal incidence irradiation. This structure originates from the optical response of atoms with very small velocity components perpendicular to the cell walls, and is connected with the transient atom excitation regime during the wall-to-wall time of flight. In experiments performed in Cs vapor, the slow mechanism of optical pumping leads, for weak light intensities (10–100 μW/cm 2 ) and a 10 μm cell, to a velocity selection equivalent to an effective 1D temperature in the sub-mK range.
We report on the spectroscopy in a resonant vapor film, in a regime in which the inhomogeneous transit time induces a velocity selection. For cell thickness (10--1000 \ensuremath{\mu}m) smaller than the transverse dimensions and for low enough atomic density, the atomic trajectories are essentially free flights from wall to wall. Hence, a single laser beam irradiation is sufficient to observe sub-Doppler resonances because of the transient atomic response, which enhances the response of the slowest atoms flying nearly parallel to the wall. The peculiar features of this velocity selection are presented in the linear regime as well as in the case of saturation induced by the optical pumping. Also, we report, in the case of the Cs D2{D}_{2}D2​ line (852 nm), on the passage from a two-level linear-response regime to an optical pumping regime when increasing the incident intensity. We also describe the influence of several other parameters, including cell thickness and laser beam size and shape, on the experimental line shapes. An extension to Doppler-free polarization spectroscopy in a thin cell with a single beam, and to saturated absorption, is also reported.
Single light beam transmission spectroscopy in an ultrathin dilute vapor cell (10--100 \ensuremath{\mu}m) reveals sub-Doppler features. Indeed, atoms with fast (normal) velocity undergo a short interaction between the cell walls, and are shown to be less absorbing because they have not reached their steady state of interaction with light. The effect is observed in the linear-response regime with a simple two-level system, as ensured from the ultralow level of light irradiation ($<~1\ensuremath{\mu}{\mathrm{W}/\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}^{2}$ for the Cs D2{D}_{2}D2​ line). The effect, known for a long time in the microwave domain, is demonstrated here in the optical domain, and is extended to cell thicknesses large relative to the optical wavelength.
Literature mentions only incidentally a sub-Doppler contribution in the excitation spectrum of the backward fluorescence of a dense vapor. This contribution is here investigated on Cs vapor, both on the first resonance line (894 nm) and on the weaker second resonance line (459 nm). We show that in a strongly absorbing medium, the quenching of excited atoms moving towards a window irradiated under near normal incidence reduces the fluorescence on the red side of the excitation spectrum. Atoms moving slowly towards the window produce a sub-Doppler velocity-selective contribution, whose visibility is here improved by applying a frequency-modulation technique. This sub-Doppler feature, induced by a surface quenching combined with a short absorption length for the incident irradiation, exhibits close analogies with the narrow spectra appearing with thin vapor cells. We also show that a normal incidence irradiation is essential for the sub-Doppler feature to be observed, while it should be independent of the detection geometry.
In a thin cell of dilute vapour, the absorption spectrum exhibits sub-Doppler features due to the relative enhancement of the slow atom contribution, with respect to the transient nature of the interaction with moving atoms. For a two-level system in the linear regime, the narrowest response is predicted to be found for a λ/2 thickness, as an effect of the coherent character of the dipole response as early described by Romer and Dicke ( Phys. Rev. , 99 (1955) 532) in the microwave regime. We report here on the direct observation of this effect in the optical regime in an ultra-thin vapour cell. This effect is shown to vanish for a thickness equal to λ, and a revival is observed at 3λ/2, as expected from the predicted λ-periodicity. The experiment is performed on the D 1 resonance line of Cs vapour (λ = 894 nm), in a specially designed cell, whose thickness varies locally.
Linear and nonlinear absorption spectra of 133 Cs vapor confined in an extremely thin cell were computed via iterations with respect to the resonance radiation intensity. When the incident radiation intensity is low, the transient polarization of the atoms that undergo frequent collisions with the cell walls leads to sub-Doppler features in the absorption spectra. Higher incident radiation intensities result in the appearance of velocity-selective optical pumping resonances. The theory developed agrees quantitatively with the experimental findings.