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Europhysics Letters (EPL)

Atomic-beam deflection by double-Π-pulse laser technique

B. Nölle, H. Nölle, J. Schmand, H. J. Andrä

Published Feb 1, 1996• 13 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have measured the deflection of a thermal sodium beam by a force existing in a field of two counterpropagating short laser pulses. This field was created by a Π-pulse train of a mode-locked (mode) (spacing 82 MHz) dye laser beam, perpendicularly crossing a thermal sodium beam and retroreflected from a mirror behind it. Unlike the spontaneous force, this Π-pulse force is not limited by saturation effects and does not heat up the sodium beam transversally. Calculations yield a maximum Π-pulse force about three times larger than the spontaneous force, being in good agreement with our experimental results.

DOI
10.1209/epl/i1996-00330-9

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We have measured the deflection of a thermal sodium beam by a force existing in a field of two counterpropagating short laser pulses. This field was created by a Π-pulse train of a mode-locked (mode) (spacing 82 MHz) dye laser beam, perpendicularly crossing a thermal sodium beam and retroreflected from a mirror behind it. Unlike the spontaneous force, this Π-pulse force is not limited by saturation effects and does not heat up the sodium beam transversally. Calculations yield a maximum Π-pulse force about three times larger than the spontaneous force, being in good agreement with our experimental results.
In the early 1970s, various researchers showed that the force exerted by light on an atomic beam could deflect the beam. In particular, traveling wave light perpendicular to the beam could be used to impart velocity along the wave vector k of the light.1,2 In these experiments, the angular deflection of an atom depended on the interaction time between the atom and field and thus on the longitudinal velocity of the atoms; consequently, the resulting atomic beam had an increased angular divergence. Other experiments have demonstrated that light could be used to collimate an atomic beam.3 In this experiment we show that a 1-D spontaneous optical molasses nearly perpendicular to an atomic beam can be used to both collimate and angularly deflect an atomic beam, where the deflection is insensitive to longitudinal velocity. In fact, this technique decreases rather than increases the angular divergence of the initial beam. In our experiment we started with a 300°C thermal sodium atomic beam with an angular divergence of ~10 mrad. The light was detuned by Δ ≈ − 20 MHz from the 32S1/2 → 32P3/2 transition in sodium, which corresponds to twice the natural linewidth Γ. Using 1-D molasses formed from counterpropagating light beams of the 1/e waist size of the order of 3 mm, we were able to produce an atomic beam with an ~l-mrad divergence and an angular deflection of >10 mrad. The maximum possible angular deflection θ is of the order.
Using the stimulated force exerted by counterpropagating \ensuremath{\pi} pulses from a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser we have focused a beam of laser-cooled cesium atoms along one dimension to about 57% of its original width in the detection zone. We determined the force profile outside and inside the overlap region of the pulses and found agreement with an earlier theoretical prediction. The scheme does not require an effective two-level system and is therefore suitable for a large variety of elements.
The steady-state absorption of a beam of sodium atoms irradiated by a train of pulses from a mode-locked dye laser has been measured. The sodium atoms were prepared as two-level systems by optical pumping with a two-mode laser. Absorption spectra on the 589.0-nm D2 line were recorded over 20 GHz with a frequency-stabilized, tunable, mode-locked dye laser having a bandwidth of 3.7 GHz and a mode spacing of 82 MHz. The laser-pulse profile was determined from the spectral profile assuming transform-limited pulses and was incorporated in theoretical calculations of excitation spectra obtained by numerical integration of the optical Bloch equations. By comparison of measured absorption spectra and theoretical excitation spectra the validity of the weak-field solution as well as the predicted saturation behavior were fully verified by the experimental results. For the highest level of irradiation applied, the laser pulses were identified as π pulses.
We have performed experimental and theoretical studies of the deflection of a sodium atomic beam by a laser tuned to the 3 2{\mathrm{}}^{2}2S1/2{S}_{1/2}S1/2​,F=2--3 2{\mathrm{}}^{2}2P3/2{P}_{3/2}P3/2​,F=3 transition. The intensity profile of the deflected beam was measured at different laser power levels and for different laser polarizations. Calculations using a constant force derived from a two-level atom yield deflections which are too large. The results of more realistic simulation calculations agree very well with the measured deflection. Those calculations incorporate the atomic-beam spatial and velocity distributions as well as the laser frequency distribution and polarization state. Optical pumping, loss of atoms to the nonresonant F=1 ground state, and Doppler shifting of the atoms out of resonance are all considered, as also are the statistics and angular distributions of the spontaneous photons.
Atomic beam deflection in a quantum field is studied theoretically for the case of an atom passing through the mode of a resonant optical cavity. Deflection probability is calculated for a coupling rate g of order g/2{pi}=1 MHz, which is experimentally feasible in a short optical cavity. Atomic velocities are taken in the range of 1-10 m/s, which can be reached with current cooling and trapping techniques. We calculate deflection for a coherent state with mean photon number , and for a number state. For the parameters studied, the predicted scattering is in an intermediate regime between Raman-Nath and Bragg, but is closer to the former. We find significant deflection probability even for =1, indicating potential for a high level of sensitivity. We report on our progress in the experimental realization of this system with laser cooled sodium atoms as the atomic medium, and directions for future work are indicated.
A sodium atomic beam has been decelerated and laser cooled to a longitudinal beam temperature of less than 30 mK. Subsequently these slow atoms with a typical velocity of 100 m/sec were selectively deflected by laser-light forces. The deflection angle was typically 30°. The deflection scheme permits a stabilization of the transverse velocities in the deflected atomic beam down to the quantum-limit temperature for one dimension (0.7 × 240 μK). The experimentally achieved temperatures are of the order of 1 mK.