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Journal of the Optical Society of America

Laser Spectroscopic Measurement of the ^87Rb–^85Rb D_1-Line Isotope Shift

Hyatt M. Gibbs, George C. Churchill

Published Oct 1, 1972• 13 citations

Abstract

High-resolution (few MHz) absorption spectroscopy was demonstrated by using an atomic beam and a laser. The Doppler absorption width of natural-abundance Rb was reduced from ≈570 to 15 MHz (5.7-MHz natural width) by using an atomic beam. A magnetic field of about 75 kOe was used to scan the six 85Rb and four 87Rb mI components of the D1 line ( 52S12 to 52P12; 7947.64 Å in zero field) into coincidence with the 7944.66-Å 1-μs 202Hg ii laser pulses. From the known ground- and excited-state hyperfine constants and the Breit–Rabi formula, we conclude that the 87Rb absorption spectrum is shifted up by 77±3 MHz relative to that of 85Rb. This uncorrected isotope shift can be compared with previous measurements of 105±15 and 77.7±2.1 MHz. Improved stability and a narrower atomic beam would permit reduction of the isotope-shift and hyperfine-constant errors to below 1 MHz.

DOI: 10.1364/josa.62.001130

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High-resolution (few MHz) absorption spectroscopy was demonstrated by using an atomic beam and a laser. The Doppler absorption width of natural-abundance Rb was reduced from ≈570 to 15 MHz (5.7-MHz natural width) by using an atomic beam. A magnetic field of about 75 kOe was used to scan the six 85Rb and four 87Rb mI components of the D1 line ( 52S12 to 52P12; 7947.64 Å in zero field) into coincidence with the 7944.66-Å 1-μs 202Hg ii laser pulses. From the known ground- and excited-state hyperfine constants and the Breit–Rabi formula, we conclude that the 87Rb absorption spectrum is shifted up by 77±3 MHz relative to that of 85Rb. This uncorrected isotope shift can be compared with previous measurements of 105±15 and 77.7±2.1 MHz. Improved stability and a narrower atomic beam would permit reduction of the isotope-shift and hyperfine-constant errors to below 1 MHz.

We demonstrate a technique for frequency measurements of atomic transitions with a precision of 30 kHz. The frequency is measured with a ring-cavity resonator whose length is calibrated against a reference laser locked to the D2 line of 87Rb, the frequency of which is known with 10-kHz accuracy. We have used this method to measure the hyperfine structure in the 5P(3/2) state of 85Rb. We obtain precise values for the hyperfine constants, A = 25.041(6) MHz and B = 26.013(25) MHz, and a value of 77.992(20) MHz for the isotope shift in the D2 line.

We have developed a rubidium atomic-beam light source that emits Rb lines with a Doppler width of only 0.0015 cm−1. When the light from this source was measured with a scanning Fabry–Perot interferometer and the data were reduced by digital computer utilizing numerical deconvolution techniques, we were able to determine a hyperfine level splitting in natural rubidium as small as 0.0014 cm−1 with an uncertainty of 0.0001 cm−1. We have measured the relative intensities and positions of 19 of the 20 hfs components of the two resonance lines, 7800 and 7974 Å, of natural Rb. From these data, we calculate isotope shifts σ87−σ85 = 0.00268 cm−1 for 52P32 and σ87′−σ85′ = 0.00259 cm−1 for 52P12.

Doppler-free two-photon absorption spectroscopy was applied to study highly-excited D states of Rb atoms. Using a cw dye laser as an excitation source, transitions from the ground 5S state to nd 2D states (n=11-32) were observed, the ionization energy of the highest state being only 117cm-1. These D doublets are not inverted. The fine structure splittings of these states do not vary as (neff) -3, nor as n-3. The isotope shift of the 85Rb, 87Rb ground states is found to be 160±12MHz. No pressure broadening was observed for these transitions within the instrumental resolution of 15 MHz.

Abstract Using a Rb cell and a wavemeter, with a Doppler-free two-photon transition near 993 nm, we have measured the four hyperfine components (two isotopes, Δ F = 0) of the 5S–6S transition, finding the absolute energies of those transitions to a spectral resolution of 0.002 cm −1 = 60 MHz. We find the (87 minus 85) isotope shift of the 5S–6S transition to be +94(12) MHz. Using our single frequency cw laser with focused intensity up to 10 4 W cm −2 at the cell, we find no AC Stark or light shift of the lines at 6 MHz spectral resolution. We find no density shift of the lines at 6 MHz spectral resolution, for a range of Rb atom densities from 3 × 10 11 to 5 × 10 13 atoms/cm 3 .

Abstract We report a measurement of the hyperfine-structure constants of the 85Rb 4 D 3 / 2 state using two-photon optical spectroscopy of the 5 S 1 / 2 → 4 D 3 / 2 transition. The spectra are acquired by measuring the transmission of the low-power 795 nm lower-stage laser beam through a cold-atom sample as a function of laser frequency, with the frequency of the upper-stage, 1476 nm laser fixed. All 4 hyperfine components of the 4 D 3 / 2 state are well-resolved in the experimental data. The dominant systematic is the light shift from the 1476 nm laser, which is addressed by extrapolating line positions measured for a set of 1476 nm laser powers to zero laser power. The analysis of our experimental data yields both the magnetic-dipole and electric-quadrupole constants for the 85Rb 4 D 3 / 2 level, without using earlier hyperfine measurements of other atomic levels. The respective results, A = 7.419(35) MHz and B = 4.19(19) MHz, are discussed in context with previous works. Our investigation may be useful for optical atomic clocks for precision metrology and emerging atom-based quantum technologies, all-infrared excitation of Rb Rydberg levels, and molecular physics.