Optics Letters

Tunable resonance fluorescence monochromator with sub-Doppler spectral resolution

Nathan C. Pixley, Tiffany L. Correll, Dimitri Pappas, Oleg I. Matveev, Benjamin W. Smith, James D. Winefordner

Published Dec 15, 2001• 15 citations

Abstract

A cesium-based resonance fluorescence monochromator with a spectral resolution of 200 MHz and a tunable response over the D(2) absorption line of cesium (380 MHz) is described. The narrow spectral response is achieved through excitation of a monokinetic population of the 6(2)P(3/2)( degrees ) state by arrangement of the excitation lasers in either a copropagating or a counterpropagating orientation. The narrow spectral response of the detector allows for excitation of specific hyperfine components involved in the 6(2)P(3/2)( degrees ) (F=3-5) to 6(2)D(5/2) (F=2-6) transition (917.23 nm). The selectivity gained through resolving specific hyperfine transitions allows for a photon detector that is both spectrally tunable and narrow. We report the sub-Doppler linewidths achieved through various laser beam orientations. We also describe how these beam geometries can be applied to spectrally narrow and tunable image detection.

DOI: 10.1364/ol.26.001946

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