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Journal de physique

Two-wave mixing in sodium vapour

G. Grynberg, E. Le Bihan, M. Pinard

Published Jan 1, 1986• 44 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have observed a unidirectional oscillation in a ring cavity when a sodium atomic vapour interacts with a non resonant pump beam. We have checked that the frequency of the oscillating beam is almost the same as the frequency of the pump beam. We propose a theoretical interpretation of the origin of a two-wave mixing process in an atomic vapour. We show the necessity of a relaxation process and we emphasize the close relationship between this effect and the Bloembergen PIER 4 resonances.

DOI
10.1051/jphys:019860047080132100

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Optics Letters•Feb 15, 1989•22 citations
We have observed a unidirectional oscillation in a ring cavity when a sodium atomic vapour interacts with a non resonant pump beam. We have checked that the frequency of the oscillating beam is almost the same as the frequency of the pump beam. We propose a theoretical interpretation of the origin of a two-wave mixing process in an atomic vapour. We show the necessity of a relaxation process and we emphasize the close relationship between this effect and the Bloembergen PIER 4 resonances.
The experimental characteristics of a four-wave mixing oscillator which uses sodium vapor enclosed in a linear cavity are described. The pump beam depletion and the enhancement of the fluorescence induced by the four-wave mixing oscillation are studied. The situations of pump beams of the same frequency and of different frequencies are considered. In both cases, the output beam almost always exhibits a bistable behavior. The bistability is observed by varying the length of the cavity, the pump beams being constant, or by varying the pump beam intensity, the length of the cavity, the remaining constant. With degenerate pump beams, the phase and the frequency of the output beam is compared to those of the pump beam. In a study of the noise of such a degenerate four-wave oscillator both in the case of degenerate and nondegenerate pumps, a very important phase sensitive noise was observed. This feature was observed for nondegenerate oscillation.>
Collisional damping can induce a coupling between two nonresonant light beams propagating in an atomic vapor. This coupling is sufficiently important to induce a gain process for a weak probe beam interacting with an intense pump beam. We present here the first observation of a cw oscillation generated by this process using a cell which contains sodium and helium, the pump beam being slightly detuned from the D2{\mathrm{D}}_{2}D2​ resonance line. We also show how the self-oscillation due to four-wave mixing is modified by the presence of a buffer gas.
Collision‐induced effects for a set of two level atoms can often be explained in term of collision‐induced gratings. In particular, we interpret the Bloembergen PIER 4 resonances and the collision‐induced gain in two‐wave mixing using these gratings. In the case of a ring atomic parametric oscillator, we show that these gratings can lead to a non reciprocal effect between the two directions of propagation. Experimentals results obtained with a cell containing sodium and helium show that a potential application to optical gyros can be imagined.