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Applied Physics Letters

A novel approach to quantitative spectroscopy of atoms in a magnetic field and applications based on an atomic vapor cell with L=λ

Armen D. Sargsyan, G. Hakhumyan, A. Papoyan, David G. Sarkisyan, Aigars Atvars, Marcis P. Auzinsh

Published Jul 14, 2008• 81 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We describe the so-called λ-Zeeman method to investigate individual hyperfine transitions between Zeeman sublevels of atoms in an external magnetic field of 0.1mT–0.25T. Atoms are confined in a nanocell with thickness L=λ, where λ is the resonant wavelength (794 or 780nm for D1 or D2 line, respectively, of Rb). Narrow resonances in the transmission spectrum of the nanocell are split into several components in a magnetic field; their frequency positions and transition probabilities depend on the B field. Possible applications are described, such as magnetometers with nanometric spatial resolution and tunable atomic frequency references.

DOI
10.1063/1.2960346

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Optics and Spectroscopy•May 1, 2010•10 citations
We describe the so-called λ-Zeeman method to investigate individual hyperfine transitions between Zeeman sublevels of atoms in an external magnetic field of 0.1mT–0.25T. Atoms are confined in a nanocell with thickness L=λ, where λ is the resonant wavelength (794 or 780nm for D1 or D2 line, respectively, of Rb). Narrow resonances in the transmission spectrum of the nanocell are split into several components in a magnetic field; their frequency positions and transition probabilities depend on the B field. Possible applications are described, such as magnetometers with nanometric spatial resolution and tunable atomic frequency references.
We describe the so-called "Lambda-Zeeman method" to investigate individual hyperfine transitions between Zeeman sublevels of atoms in an external magnetic field of 0.1 mT - 0.25 T. Atoms are confined in a nanocell with thickness L = Lambda, where Lambda is the resonant wavelength (794 nm or 780 nm for D1 or D2 line of Rb). Narrow resonances in the transmission spectrum of the nanocell are split into several components in a magnetic field; their frequency positions and probabilities depend on the B-field. Possible applications are described, such as magnetometers with nanometric spatial resolution and tunable atomic frequency references.
The energy levels of atoms placed in an external magnetic field undergo frequency shifts and changes in their transition probabilities. It is demonstrated that using fluorescence spectra from a submicron thin vapour cell (STC) with the thickness L = λ/2, it is possible to efficiently study the above mentioned changes (“half-λ Zeeman technique” (HLZT)). The circularly polarized beam of extended-cavity diode laser (λ = 794 nm, laser bandwidth γL < 1 MHz) resonant with 87Rb D1 transition, after passing through Faraday isolator is directed onto the Rb STC with the thickness L = λ/2. The temperature of the STC is 120 °C, corresponding to N ~ 1013 atom/cm3. STC was provided by a special oven with 3 openings: 2 inlets for laser beam passage, and one orthogonal inlet for side fluorescence detection. This geometry allows simultaneous recording of fluorescence and transmission spectra. STC with the oven is placed between two strong permanent ring magnets and by changing the distance between them it is possible to form a strong magnetic field up to 4500 G. In [1], “λ-Zeeman technique” (LZT) is shown to be efficient to study individual transitions between the Zeeman sublevels of hyperfine levels in an external magnetic field up to 2400 G. LZT uses STC with thickness L = λ, where λ is 794 nm (780 nm) for D1 line (D2 line) of Rb. Narrow velocity selective optical pumping/saturation (VSOP) resonances in the transmission spectrum of the STC are split into several components in the magnetic field; their frequency positions and probabilities depend on the B-field. We present comparison of HLZT and LZT in a wide region of magnetic fields up to 4500 G. We present the fluorescence spectrum for L = λ/2 and the transmission spectrum for L = λ. The VSOP resonances in the LZT-curve are narrower meanwhile the advantage of HLZT is that the fluorescence appears on a flat background. Applications such as magnetometer with high spatial resolution and the theoretical model describing well the experiment will be presented.
We propose a technique which we call “ L = λ Zeeman technique” (LZT) for investigation of the transitions between the Zeeman sublevels of the hfs structure of alkali metal atoms in external magnetic fields. The technique is based on the employment of a nanocell with the thickness of the Rb atom vapor column equal to the wavelength of the laser radiation, 780 nm, resonant with the atomic rubidium D 2 transition. At the laser intensities of about 1 mW/cm 2 in the transmission spectrum of the nanocell narrow (∼ 30 MHz) resonant peaks of reduced absorption appear localized exactly on the atomic transitions. In magnetic fields these peaks are split and their amplitudes and frequency positions depend on the magnetic field strength. The theoretical model well describes the experimental results.
Sub-Doppler nature of atomic spectra in alkali metal vapor cells of nanometric thickness L (nanocells) allows one to study peculiarities of magneto-optical processes, which occur in a magnetic field for the case when L is of the order of λ (λ is a laser resonant wavelength). We particularly address the issues of practical implementation of the studied processes. The following results are presented. i) A "λ-Zeeman technique" exploiting velocity-selective optical pumping resonances in L = λ Rb cell placed in a B-field, which allows direct determination frequency shifts and modification of transition probabilities of individual Zeeman transitions in magnetic field and is applicable for development of wide-range (~ 0.1 - 1000 mT) optical magnetometers and tunable frequency reference. ii) A technique for locking the laser radiation frequency, B-field-tunable in ~ 500 MHz range, which is based on selective reflection of a circularly-polarized laser beam from Rb vapor cell with thickness L ≈ λ/2.
Recently it was shown that "λ-Zeeman Technique" (λ-ZT) is a convenient tool to study individual transitions between the Zeeman sublevels of hyperfine levels in an external magnetic field. λ-ZT is based on resonant transmission spectrum of nanometric thin cell (NTC) of thickness L = λ, where λ is the resonant wavelength 794 nm for Rb D1 line. Narrow velocity selective optical pumping (VSOP) resonances in the transmission spectrum of the NTC are split into several components in a magnetic field. Examination of VSOP resonances allows one to identify and investigate an atomic transition in the range of magnetic fields 10 - 5000 G. Here we present a new method for selective addressing of VSOP resonance amplification (more than 10 times).
It has been experimentally demonstrated that the use of the effect of significant narrowing of the fluorescence spectrum from a nanocell that contains a column of atomic Rb vapor with a thickness of L = 0.5λ (where λ = 794 nm is the wavelength of laser radiation, whose frequency is resonant with the atomic transition of the D 1 line of Rb) and the application of narrowband diode lasers allow the spectral separation and investigation of changes in probabilities of optical atomic transitions between levels of the hyperfine structure of the D 1 line of 87Rb and 85Rb atoms in external magnetic fields of 10–2500 Gs (for example, for one of transitions, the probability increases ∼17 times). Small column thicknesses (∼390 nm) allow the application of permanent magnets, which facilitates significantly the creation of strong magnetic fields. Experimental results are in a good agreement with the theoretical values. The advantages of this method over other existing methods are noted. The results obtained show that a magnetometer with a local spatial resolution of ∼390 nm can be created based on a nanocell with the column thickness L = 0.5λ. This result is important for mapping strongly inhomogeneous magnetic fields.