We demonstrate the utility of optical cavity generated spin-squeezed states in free space atomic fountain clocks in ensembles of 390 000 ^{87}Rb atoms. Fluorescence imaging, correlated to an initial quantum nondemolition measurement, is used for population spectroscopy after the atoms are released from a confining lattice. For a free fall time of 4 milliseconds, we resolve a single-shot phase sensitivity of 814(61) microradians, which is 5.8(0.6) decibels (dB) below the quantum projection limit. We observe that this squeezing is preserved as the cloud expands to a roughly 200 μm radius and falls roughly 300 μm in free space. Ramsey spectroscopy with 240 000 atoms at a 3.6 ms Ramsey time results in a single-shot fractional frequency stability of 8.4(0.2)×10^{-12}, 3.8(0.2) dB below the quantum projection limit. The sensitivity and stability are limited by the technical noise in the fluorescence detection protocol and the microwave system, respectively.
We report the results of two-photon-excited fluorescence (TPEF) measurements of the
5S1/2→5D5/2 transition of
85Rb and
87Rb cooled in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). We observe TPEF at excitation powers as low as 1
μW or fluxes as low as
2.98−0.94+1.37×1018 photonscm−2s−1 (
85Rb) and
3.31−1.33+2.21×1018 photonscm−2s−1 (
87Rb). Our results demonstrate that optically cooled Rb is a promising platform for observing sensitive two-photon spectral signatures at low photon fluxes.
Excited-state angular-momentum alignment--orientation conversion for atoms with hyperfine structure in the presence of an external magnetic field is investigated. Transversal orientation in these conditions is reported. This phenomenon occurs under Paschen Back conditions at intermediate magnetic-field strength. Weak radiation from a linearly polarized diode laser is used to excite Rb atoms in a cell. The laser beam is polarized at an angle of $\ensuremath{\pi}/4$ with respect to the external magnetic-field direction. Ground-state hyperfine levels of the
5S1/2 state are resolved using laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy under conditions for which all excited
5P3/2 state hyperfine components are excited simultaneously. Circularly polarized fluorescence is observed to be emitted in the direction perpendicular to both to the direction of the magnetic field
B and direction of the light polarization
E. The obtained circularity is shown to be in quantitative agreement with theoretical predictions.
State-Selective Detection of Ultracold High-
v Ground-State Rb
2, and Spectroscopy of the (2)
1Σu+ State