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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

A magnetometer based on quantum interference effects

Roland Lammegger, Stefan Hatzl, Arno Huss, Laurentius Windholz

Published Apr 22, 2005• 2 citations

Abstract

We have investigated some possibilities to use effect of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT), which is based on quantum interference, for measuring magnetic fields. Multi-frequency laser light is driving atomic transitions (e.g. in a Λ-type excitation scheme), and the atoms are decaying into a super positional dark state, in which the population is trapped, if the frequencies of the applied light fulfills certain conditions. Then the atomic medium becomes transparent for the exciting electromagnetic fields. The observed line width of this "transparency window" is not limited by the natural line width of the involved optical transitions and can be decreased down to a few hundredths of Hertz. As a consequence, this narrow feature can be used as a sensitive probe if the frequencies fulfill the required conditions, which are dependent on the energy positions of the involved atomic levels. These energy positions are influenced by external magnetic fields, thus the observation of EIT can be used to determine external magnetic fields strengths. In our approach a so called Hanle-configuration is used, where only one laser frequency is used to simultaneously excite σ+- and σ--transitions within a single hyperfine transition of the Rb87 Dl-line. In this configuration a resonant Λ-system is formed at zero magnetic field. The detuning from two-photon resonance is caused by a magnetic field scanned in laser propagation direction. Any additional probe magnetic field characteristically changes the width and shape of the EIT transparency window resonance; hence the probe magnetic field can be determined directly from the shape of this resonance.

DOI: 10.1117/12.617827

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We have investigated some possibilities to use effect of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT), which is based on quantum interference, for measuring magnetic fields. Multi-frequency laser light is driving atomic transitions (e.g. in a Λ-type excitation scheme), and the atoms are decaying into a super positional dark state, in which the population is trapped, if the frequencies of the applied light fulfills certain conditions. Then the atomic medium becomes transparent for the exciting electromagnetic fields. The observed line width of this "transparency window" is not limited by the natural line width of the involved optical transitions and can be decreased down to a few hundredths of Hertz. As a consequence, this narrow feature can be used as a sensitive probe if the frequencies fulfill the required conditions, which are dependent on the energy positions of the involved atomic levels. These energy positions are influenced by external magnetic fields, thus the observation of EIT can be used to determine external magnetic fields strengths. In our approach a so called Hanle-configuration is used, where only one laser frequency is used to simultaneously excite σ+- and σ--transitions within a single hyperfine transition of the Rb87 Dl-line. In this configuration a resonant Λ-system is formed at zero magnetic field. The detuning from two-photon resonance is caused by a magnetic field scanned in laser propagation direction. Any additional probe magnetic field characteristically changes the width and shape of the EIT transparency window resonance; hence the probe magnetic field can be determined directly from the shape of this resonance.

Electromagnetically induced transparency(EIT) with extremely narrow spectral width is obtained in a well-studied lambda three level system where a coupling field and a probing field interact with two optical transitions.By tuning coupling field,it excites the transitions between two ground state hyperfine levels and excited state level.In this paper,both EIT and spontaneous radiation induced coherent dip can be obtained,and even the gain is observed to superpose to the EIT window.By discussing the behaviors of probing field absorption profiles under the effect of the tuned coupling field,it can be seen that there are quantum interference and coherence between EIT and spontaneous radiation induced coherent dip,and the coherence becomes remarkable when the excitation frequency of the coupling field satisfies certain conditions.

We report an experimental observation of narrow and high-contrast spectra, which are induced by interacting dark resonances and have been predicted in Phys. Rev. A 60, 3225 (1999). Spectra are measured with cold

{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}

atoms produced by a magneto-optical trap. In this experimental system, a coupling laser and a weak probe laser form a three-level \ensuremath{\Lambda}-type configuration of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT); a microwave drives a magnetic-dipole transition between the fourth level and the ground state that is coupled with the excited state by the coupling laser. The observed spectral profile of probe absorption exhibits a very sharp peak emerging inside a narrow EIT dip. Such spectral feature provides more opportunities in manipulating atomic-optical response.

The method for observing the high-contrast and narrow-width resonances of electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) in the Hanle configuration under counterpropagating light waves is proposed. We theoretically analyze the absorption of a probe light wave in presence of counterpropagating one with the same frequency as the function of a static magnetic field applied along the vectors of light waves, propagating in a vapour cell. Here, as an example, we study a "dark" type of atomic dipole transition Fg=1-->Fe=1 in D1 line of 87Rb, where usually the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) can be observed. To obtain the EIA signal one should proper chose the polarizations of light waves and intensities. In contrast of regular schemes for observing EIA signals (in a single travelling light wave in the Hanle configuration or in a bichromatic light field consisted of two travelling waves), the proposed scheme allows one to use buffer gas to significantly enhance properties of the resonance. Also the dramatic influence of atomic transition openness on contrast of the resonance is revealed, that gives great advantage in comparison with cyclic atomic transitions. The obtained results can be interesting in high-resolution spectroscopy, nonlinear and magneto-optics.

We report on an investigation of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in sodium vapour. In our experiment, sodium atoms are excited on the D1-line with laser radiation containing two components with a frequency difference close to that of the two hyperfine ground states of sodium (1.772 GHz). Such an excitation leads to coherent trapping of atomic population in “dark” superpositional states, which dramatically reduces the absorption of light. A frequency transparency window is measured to have a subnatural width, which is a clear indication of coherent population trapping. Dependence of EIT on laser frequencies and intensities, on the magnetic field strength as well as on the temperature of the sodium vapour is studied.

We investigate both theoretically and experimentally the electro- magnetically induced transparency (EIT) phenomenon of atomic 87Rb at the room temperature with a static magnetic field lifting the degeneracy of all three involved hyperfine levels. Two collinearly propagating and linearly polarized laser fields (a probe field and a coupling field) are used to couple one hyperfine level (the upper level) of the 5P1/2 state to two hyperfine levels (the lower levels) of the 5S1/2 state, respectively. In the case of zero magnetic fields, we observed a deep EIT window with the contrast of about 66%. Here, the EIT window width is limited by both the spontaneous decay rate of the upper level and the coupling field intensity. When a magnetic field parallel to both laser beams is applied, the EIT window is split into three much narrower sub-windows with contrasts of about 32%. If the magnetic field is perpendicular to the laser beams, however, the EIT window is split into four much narrower sub-windows whose contrasts are 32% or 16%. This is because the decomposition of the linearly polarized optical fields strongly depends on the orientation of the used magnetic field. The underlying physics is that, in the limit of a weak probe field, an ideal degenerate three-level system can be split into three or four sets of independent three-level systems by a magnetic field due to the lifting of magnetic sublevels of the involved hyperfine levels. In this paper the absorption spectra corresponding to different magnetic field directions are clearly shown and compared. And a straightforward but effective theoretical method for analyzing the experimental results is put forward. Our theoretical calculations are in good agreement with the experimental results.

We theoretically investigate the optical response of a degenerate four-level

\Lambda

-type atomic system under the influence of an external magnetic field. The applied magnetic field lifts the degeneracy of the ground sublevels via the Zeeman effect, thereby altering the two-photon resonance conditions for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) formation and causing the atomic response to evolve from single-EIT to double-EIT, accompanied by shifts in the EIT positions. Such variations in the EIT positions result in corresponding changes in the dispersion and group index curves, allowing the selection of desired frequency regions for different response regimes. As a result, the system can switch between transparency and absorption, as well as between slow and fast light. These findings highlight the feasibility of controlling light propagation via magnetic field, with potential applications in optical switching and quantum information technologies.