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Physical Review A

Light effects in the atomic-motion-induced Ramsey narrowing of dark resonances in wall-coated cells

Evelina Breschi, Georgy A. Kazakov, C. Schori, Giovanni Di Domenico, G. Mileti, A. Litvinov, Boris G. Matisov

Published Dec 7, 2010• 44 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on light shift and broadening in the atomic-motion-induced Ramsey narrowing of dark resonances prepared in alkali-metal vapors contained in wall-coated cells without buffer gas. The atomic-motion-induced Ramsey narrowing is due to the free motion of the polarized atomic spins in and out of the optical interaction region before spin relaxation. As a consequence of this effect, we observe a narrowing of the dark resonance linewidth as well as a reduction of the ground states' light shift when the volume of the interaction region decreases at constant optical intensity. The results can be intuitively interpreted as a dilution of the intensity effect similar to a pulsed interrogation due to the atomic motion. Finally the influence of this effect on the performance of compact atomic clocks is discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.82.063810

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We report on light shift and broadening in the atomic-motion-induced Ramsey narrowing of dark resonances prepared in alkali-metal vapors contained in wall-coated cells without buffer gas. The atomic-motion-induced Ramsey narrowing is due to the free motion of the polarized atomic spins in and out of the optical interaction region before spin relaxation. As a consequence of this effect, we observe a narrowing of the dark resonance linewidth as well as a reduction of the ground states' light shift when the volume of the interaction region decreases at constant optical intensity. The results can be intuitively interpreted as a dilution of the intensity effect similar to a pulsed interrogation due to the atomic motion. Finally the influence of this effect on the performance of compact atomic clocks is discussed.
Raman-Ramsey interference has proved a very effective technique to implement compact and high performing vapor cell frequency standards. In this paper, we theoretically characterize Raman-Ramsey resonances in an optically thick atomic vapor. Specifically, some parameters of interest for frequency standards applications, like contrast and linewidth of the central Raman-Ramsey fringe, are evaluated at different temperatures for 133Cs^{133}\mathrm{Cs}133Cs and 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb vapor cells with buffer gas. Density narrowing and broadening effects are described and explained in terms of a three-level theory where laser field propagation through the atomic medium is taken into account. Also, we investigate light shift both in low and high atomic density regimes. Light shift, which potentially degrades the medium- to long-term stability of Raman-Ramsey clocks, is composed of two contributions. The first is a pulling effect exerted by the wide Rabi profile enclosing the interference pattern on the central Raman-Ramsey fringe. The second light-shift term is strictly related to the detection time. Calculations derived from our model well describe already existing experimental results and new behaviors are predicted.
The effect of wall-induced Ramsey interference on the electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) in an anti-relaxation coated vapor cell is studied in a four-level closed N-type atomic system. We show that the atomic coherence spontaneously transferred from the excited states to the ground states may interfere via the Ramsey sequence of the moving atoms with decoherence-free wall collisions. The spectral narrowing of the EIA resonance lineshape is induced by the Ramsey effect because of the long lifetime of the spontaneously transferred atomic coherence between the ground states. This calculated Ramsey EIA spectrum is in good agreement with the narrow EIA spectrum obtained experimentally in the anti-relaxation coated vapor cell.
When neon is introduced as a buffer gas the interaction time of cesium atoms in a vapor cell with resonant laser beams is drastically increased. Using a pair of phase-locked lasers we have observed linewidths as narrow as $42 $Hz for coherent dark resonances in a cesium vapor cell. We study the influence of power and pressure broadening and systematic shifts of the resonance frequency. Our experiments demonstrate that coherent dark resonances could rival direct radio-frequency precision measurements, which have a wide range of applications in physics.
In this paper we describe a few phenomena that may affect the linewidth and/or the line shape of Ramsey fringes observed in an alkali-metal vapor cell with buffer gas. Experiments are performed on a vapor-cell--microwave-cavity arrangement in which 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms successively experience laser pumping preparation (through a D2{D}_{2}D2​ line), microwave interrogation with a couple of coherent pulses, and clock signal detection by means of laser absorption. We show that the linewidth of the Ramsey central fringe is influenced by the Rabi pattern produced by a single microwave pulse. Moreover, cycle memory and atomic density effects can modify the shape of the Ramsey central fringe from the common sinusoidal behavior. A simple three-level model well reproduces the experimental observations.
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