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Optics and Spectroscopy

Strong resonance reflection of polarized light from an alkali vapor

Ya. A. Fofanov, A. A. Rodichkina

Published Aug 1, 2007• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Resonance reflection of light from the interface between a dielectric and an alkali vapor is studied. Two cases are considered in which a laser light beam is polarized either parallel or perpendicular to the plane of incidence. Upon scanning of the frequency of the incident laser radiation, in the first case, the reflection conditions vary from approximately the conditions of Brewster reflection to the conditions characteristics of total internal reflection. In the second case, the Brewster reflection conditions are not realized, and the variations in the intensity of the reflected light observed upon frequency scanning are smaller. The rotation of the plane of polarization and the laser frequency tuning make it possible to rapidly switch between these reflection conditions.

DOI
10.1134/s0030400x07080231

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Resonance reflection of light from the interface between a dielectric and an alkali vapor is studied. Two cases are considered in which a laser light beam is polarized either parallel or perpendicular to the plane of incidence. Upon scanning of the frequency of the incident laser radiation, in the first case, the reflection conditions vary from approximately the conditions of Brewster reflection to the conditions characteristics of total internal reflection. In the second case, the Brewster reflection conditions are not realized, and the variations in the intensity of the reflected light observed upon frequency scanning are smaller. The rotation of the plane of polarization and the laser frequency tuning make it possible to rapidly switch between these reflection conditions.
We compare the interactions of spin-polarized Na with glass surfaces that are either bare or silicone coated. For this purpose, we reflect a laser beam that is resonant with the Na atoms from the interface, using an angle of incidence close to the critical angle of total internal reflection. Polarization-selective detection of the reflected light provides information about the ground-state orientation of the atoms, which is created by optical pumping with a second laser beam. Our theoretical description treats the atomic vapor as a homogeneous anisotropic medium characterized by a macroscopic magnetization. Comparative experimental studies performed with silicone-coated and bare glass surfaces provide evidence that wall relaxation can be observed by reflection spectroscopy.
Resonance lines of rubidium and cesium and injection lasers were used in a study of selective reflection from an interface between a transparent dielectric and an absorbing gas as a function of the angle of incidence of radiation and of its polarization, and of the concentration of atoms in a cell. Selective reflection resonances were observed against zero background when radiation was incident on the cell at the Brewster angle. The conditions for observation of selective frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) were determined analytically and experimentally. The maximum reflection coefficient obtained was 95 ± 2%, which was 10 times greater than the nonresonant reflection coefficient. The spectral width of the region where FTIR was observed ranged from 0.1 to 1.5 cm − 1, depending on the concentration of atoms and the angle of incidence. The FTIR eifect was used to construct a selective component which made it possible to ensure narrow-band cw operation of an injection laser with an external resonator. Other potential applications of the FTIR effect in quantum electronics were also considered.
We calculate the reflection coefficient for a light beam incident on the interface between a dielectric and a resonant atomic vapor to first order in the dipole polarization in the vapor. The angle of incidence and the polarization direction are chosen arbitrarily, and saturation is fully accounted for. The atoms are supposed to get deexcited at collisions with the surface. The resulting transient behavior of atoms leaving the surface is responsible for a nonlocal response. This spatial dispersion near the surface is known to produce a natural-linewidth-limited resonance in the vapor reflection coefficient at normal incidence. Our analysis shows that this sub-Doppler structure is broadened by the residual Doppler effect for non-normal incidence. This structure disappears at the critical angle for total internal reflection, where one predicts a conventional Voigt-type dispersion response, based on the complex-refractive-index approach. We also calculate the saturation broadening of the atomic response for large intensities. Beyond the critical angle, the spectral response suddenly shifts from dispersion to absorption line shapes. In the case of total internal reflection, the spatial dispersion leads to an additional Lorentzian broadening, which results from an effective imaginary Doppler shift at passage through the evanescent wave (transit-time broadening).
A series of reflection resonances formed by the hyperfine components of the D 2 -lines in the spectrum of the natural mixture of rubidium isotopes is studied. Passages from resonantly frustrated total internal reflection to resonance Brewster reflection caused by the frequency tuning of the incident light are demonstrated experimentally. The contrast of the strongest refection resonances exceeds 500% at the moderate heating of reflecting cells. The intensity of the reflected light changes in this case by more than 20 times. A theory is developed which is based on a two-level model for resonance atoms and Fresnel formulas for reflection coefficients. Numerical calculations based on the proposed theory confirm main experimental results.
We calculate the modulation of the reflection coefficient for a frequency-modulated (FM) light beam incident on the interface between a dielectric and an atomic vapor. The vapor is described as a gas of resonant, Doppler-broadened, two-level systems, with transition frequency and linewidth arbitrarily depending on the atom-dielectric distance. The atoms are supposed to get deexcited at collisions with the surface. The transient atomic response is calculated to first order in the incident field, for both incoming and desorbed atoms. The reflection coefficient, evaluated to first order in the vapor dipole polarization, leads to a formal expression of the reflectivity modulation, valid for arbitrary atom-surface interaction potentials. One first discusses the reflection signal in absence of wall interactions, for arbitrary modulation frequencies. At large frequencies, it allows one to monitor both vapor absorption and dispersion. Second, the formal theory is applied to the case of a Van der Waals-London surface attraction exerted on the atomic vapor. Both normal and oblique beam incidences are considered. One shows how the vapor dispersion signal is red-shifted and strongly distorted by the appearance of vapor-surface long-range interactions, and how it can be used to monitor these interactions. At non-normal incidences, the lineshapes get Doppler-broadened.
We study internal selective reflection from a dielectric-vapor interface, where three levels of the vapor atoms in a \ensuremath{\Lambda} configuration are connected by two light frequencies. The reflectivity contains then both a sub-Doppler structure due to spatial dispersion in the boundary layer and the dark resonance arising from coherent population trapping. We derive analytical expressions for the reflectivity of either one of the two light beams. The contributions from atoms approaching or leaving the interface are strongly different, whereas they are identical for the case of two-state atoms.