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The Journal of Chemical Physics

Polarization spectroscopy using short-pulse lasers: Theoretical analysis

Sukesh Roy, Robert P. Lucht, Thomas A. Reichardt

Published Jan 8, 2002• 21 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The physics of short-pulse polarization spectroscopy (PS) and the diagnostic potential for quantitative measurements of species concentration are investigated by direct numerical integration (DNI) of the time-dependent density matrix equations for a multistate system. The effects of laser power, collision rates, and Doppler broadening on the short-pulse PS signal generation process are investigated by systematically varying these parameters in the numerical calculations. It is found that the use of a short-pulse laser (laser pulse width τL<characteristic collision time τC) significantly decreases the collision-rate dependence of the PS signal compared to the long-pulse laser case (τL>τC), even for a nonsaturating pump beam. For a saturating pump beam, the short-pulse PS signal is found to be nearly independent of collision rate. Increasing the collision rate by a factor of 100 (from 108 to 1010 s−1), the calculated PS signal strength decreases by only a factor of 2 for a 100-ps pump laser at high intensity. This insensitivity of the PS signal to the collision rate in the medium enhances greatly the potential for quantitative application of the technique for concentration measurements in reacting flows. The underlying physics of the short-pulse PS is explored by studying the effects of collision rate, Doppler broadening, and the pump laser intensity on the temporal profile of the Zeeman state populations and the coherences between the Zeeman states.

DOI
10.1063/1.1423949

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Acta Optica Sinica•Jan 1, 1982•0 citations
The physics of short-pulse polarization spectroscopy (PS) and the diagnostic potential for quantitative measurements of species concentration are investigated by direct numerical integration (DNI) of the time-dependent density matrix equations for a multistate system. The effects of laser power, collision rates, and Doppler broadening on the short-pulse PS signal generation process are investigated by systematically varying these parameters in the numerical calculations. It is found that the use of a short-pulse laser (laser pulse width τL<characteristic collision time τC) significantly decreases the collision-rate dependence of the PS signal compared to the long-pulse laser case (τL>τC), even for a nonsaturating pump beam. For a saturating pump beam, the short-pulse PS signal is found to be nearly independent of collision rate. Increasing the collision rate by a factor of 100 (from 108 to 1010 s−1), the calculated PS signal strength decreases by only a factor of 2 for a 100-ps pump laser at high intensity. This insensitivity of the PS signal to the collision rate in the medium enhances greatly the potential for quantitative application of the technique for concentration measurements in reacting flows. The underlying physics of the short-pulse PS is explored by studying the effects of collision rate, Doppler broadening, and the pump laser intensity on the temporal profile of the Zeeman state populations and the coherences between the Zeeman states.
The effects of laser-induced anisotropy on the generation of the short-pulse laser-induced polarization spectroscopy (LIPS) signal is investigated by direct numerical integration (DNI) of the time-dependent density matrix equations. The calculations are performed in the short-pulse regime (laser pulse width τL less than characteristic collision time τC) to reduce the influence of collisions on the generation of medium anisotropies. The Zeeman-state structure of the upper and lower energy levels is included in the multistate formulation of the density matrix equations. For a P-branch transition when the isotropic ground-level population is pumped by a circularly polarized light, oriented anisotropy is mainly responsible for the LIPS signal generation; whereas, when the resonance is pumped by a linearly polarized light, aligned anisotropy is mainly responsible. For a Q-branch transition that is pumped by a circularly polarized light, the contributions to the LIPS signal from orientation and alignment are comparable. The effects of saturation on the induced anisotropy is also investigated. The magnitude of the LIPS signal increases by more than a factor of 14 for an initial right circularly polarized-oriented anisotropic distribution in the ground Zeeman states as opposed to an isotropic distribution. An understanding of the effects of anisotropy on the LIPS signal will aid the modeling of the LIPS signal-generation processes and the interpretation of experimental LIPS signals.
The effects of multifrequency-mode laser radiation on polarization-spectroscopy signal generation are investigated by direct numerical integration of the time-dependent density-matrix equations. The numerical solution of the density-matrix equations allows us to incorporate a physically reasonable model for pulsed dye-laser radiation in our analysis of the laser–resonance interaction. The laser radiation is modeled as the sum of electric fields from a finite number of modes that are assumed to have random pulse-to-pulse phases and exponentially distributed amplitudes. Calculations are performed for a homogeneously broadened resonance (only collisional broadening) and for a resonance that is both collision and Doppler broadened. The effect of the multimode laser radiation on polarization-spectroscopy line shapes and saturation curves is investigated for different values of the laser bandwidth and mode spacing and resonance collision and Doppler widths. The saturation parameter for the resonance is strongly dependent on the ratio of the laser bandwidth to the resonance collision width when the laser bandwidth is greater than the collision width. The pulse-to-pulse fluctuations in polarization-spectroscopy signal levels are found to decrease substantially for saturating pump intensities. The inclusion of the multimode laser structure into our density-matrix equations represents a significant advance in modeling the nonlinear interaction of laser radiation with atomic or molecular resonances.
The use of picosecond lasers for degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) diagnostics of atmospheric pressure flames has been suggested as a means of overcoming the complicated collision-rate dependence of the DFWM signal in the nanosecond-laser pulse-length regime. In this paper DFWM spectroscopy in the regime in which the laser pulse length (τL) is less than the characteristic collisional time (τC) is investigated theoretically. DFWM signal levels for the phase-conjugate geometry (counterpropagating pump beams) are calculated by integration of the time-dependent density-matrix equations at numerous grid points along the phase-matching axis and by summing of the polarization contribution from each of these grid points. Both purely homogeneously broadened resonances and resonances that are both collision broadened and Doppler broadened are considered. DFWM signal generation for these two types of resonances in the fully transient regime (τL≪τC) is strikingly different. For a homogeneously broadened resonance, the DFWM signal persists long after the laser beam has passed through the medium. The decay rate of the DFWM signal is determined by the collision rate in the medium, and the integrated DFWM signal is still dependent on the collision rate even in this fully transient regime. However, when the Doppler broadening of the resonance is much greater than the collisional broadening, the DFWM signal decays with a fall time close to that of the laser pulse. For τL≪τC, we find that it is the laser spectral width, rather than the collisional width, that dictates the range of velocity groups with which the pulses effectively interact. The signal decays with a fall time close to that of the laser pulse because the excited velocity groups radiate out of phase with one another. In a medium in which the Doppler width is much greater than the collisional width, the DFWM reflectivity is independent of collision rate for τL≪τC, but the signal level is dependent on the Doppler width. Finally, we investigate the effect of different laser pulse lengths on reflectivity saturation curves for resonances with different levels of Doppler broadening.
The physics of the degenerate four-wave mixing process for resonant transitions between two degenerate energy levels is investigated by direct numerical integration of the time-dependent density matrix equations. The Zeeman structure of the upper and lower energy levels is included in a multistate formulation of the density matrix equations. The inclusion of the Zeeman structure enables the investigation of the degenerate four-wave mixing process for different polarization configurations of the forward pump, backward pump, and probe beams. Saturation curves and lineshapes are calculated for different polarization configurations and for numerous low-J transitions. At low laser intensity, the results of our calculations are in excellent agreement with perturbation theory in terms of the relative intensities of the degenerate four-wave mixing signal for linear polarization configurations. As the laser intensity increases and the resonance starts to saturate, we find in general that the relative degenerate four-wave mixing reflectivity increases for the crossed polarization configurations compared to the parallel polarization configuration because the saturation intensity is higher. However, for some resonance transitions, some of the crossed polarization configurations saturate at lower laser intensities than the parallel polarization configuration, even though the reflectivity for these crossed polarization configurations is much lower than for the parallel polarization configuration in the perturbative intensity limit. This result is explained in terms of the coupling of the various Zeeman states during the degenerate four-wave mixing interaction for specific polarization configurations. The effect of saturation on the resonance line shapes for the different polarization configurations is also investigated. Finally, a limited number of calculations are performed for resonances that are Doppler broadened as well as collision broadened. The effect of saturation on the reflectivity of the crossed polarization configurations compared to the parallel polarization configuration is even more significant for resonances with comparable Doppler and collisional broadening.
The effect of Doppler broadening on degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) signal intensities in the regime of high pump and probe laser intensities is investigated theoretically. DFWM reflectivities are calculated by solving the time-dependent density-matrix equations for a two-level system interacting with three laser fields. The density-matrix equations are integrated directly in the time domain on a grid of spatial locations along the phase-matching axis; the DFWM signal level is then calculated by summation of the polarization contribution (with the appropriate phase factor) from each of the spatial grid points. For the case in which the Doppler and the collisional linewidths are comparable, the DFWM reflectivity is found to be inversely proportional to the factor 1 + (bΔωD/ΔωC)2, where ΔωD is the Doppler width, ΔωC is the collisional width, and b is weakly dependent on the pump and the probe laser powers. We developed an analytical expression for the reflectivity of a line that is both collision and Doppler broadened by dividing the widely used Abrams and Lind expression for homogeneous reflectivity Rhom by the factor 1 + (bΔωD/ΔωC)2. This modified reflectivity expression is found to give accurate results for the DFWM reflectivity over a wide range of values for the ratio of Doppler to collisional width. With this modified Abrams–Lind expression, strategies for quantitative DFWM concentration measurements in flames and plasmas are proposed and analyzed. We conclude that, by selection of the appropriate rotational transition, a DFWM reflectivity that is directly proportional to the square of the total species number density can be obtained over a wide range of temperature for constant-laser-intensity spatial profile mapping in flames.
Polarization intermodulated excitation (POLINEX) spectroscopy is a new developing Doppler-free spectroscopic technique which combines the advantages of the polarization spectroscopy and the intermodulated fluorescence speotroscopy. In this technique, a tunable laser beam is circular polarized first and then divided into two parts of nearly same intensities. Two rotating polarizers of different modulated frequencies are used to change the directions of these linear polarized beams periodically with time. When they interact with the atoms, the fluorescence signal are detected via a lock-in amplifier. The POLINEX spectroscopy can effectively eliminate the Doppler-broadened pedestal due to the velocity-changing collisions among atoms as the polarization-modulation is used instead of the amplitude modulation. And that pedestal is a problem in the original saturated spectroscopy and the intermodulated fluorescence spectroscopy. Meanwhile, there is no asymmetry of the line-shape in the polarization spectroscopy, because only the fluorescent or opto-galvanic signal are detected in this new method. In this paper a study of velocity-changing collisions in POLINEX spectroscopy using the rate equation approach is presented. A kernel function is introduced to describe the probability of atom moving out or in the state V (velocity) and m (magnetic quantum number) and the related terms additional to the rate equations. We calculate the total absorption rate and pick out the term concerning the mutual absorption (intermodulated signal). The amplitude of signal is proportional to the difference of the absorption rate when the senses of polarization of two counter-propagating laser beams are same or perpendicular to each other. We obtain the results which show the term related with the Doppler-broadened pedestal being cancelled after the operation of Glebsch-Gordon coefficients. These results coincide with the experiments performed before. Using the density matrix approach we can obtain the same results.