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Chinese Physics Letters

Polarization Beats in a Cascade Three-Level System

Xin Mi, Zuhe Yu, Jiang Qian, Yanpeng Zhang, Li Xiao-Feng, Panming Fu

Published Nov 1, 1995• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Based on the interference between one-photon and two-photon processes, we report polarization beats in a cascade three-level system (PBCTS). We performed PBCTS experiments in Na vapor, which showed a modulation of the four-wave mixing signal intensity with period 55 fs, corresponding to the beating between the resonant frequencies of the transitions from 3 S 1/2 to 3 P 3/2 and from 3 P 3/2 to 4 D 3/2,5/2 .

DOI
10.1088/0256-307x/12/11/008

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Based on the interference between one-photon and two-photon processes, we report polarization beats in a cascade three-level system (PBCTS). We performed PBCTS experiments in Na vapor, which showed a modulation of the four-wave mixing signal intensity with period 55 fs, corresponding to the beating between the resonant frequencies of the transitions from 3 S 1/2 to 3 P 3/2 and from 3 P 3/2 to 4 D 3/2,5/2 .
Based on the polarization interference between one-photon and two-photon processes, we demonstrated an ultrafast modulation spectroscopy in a cascade three-level system (UMSCTS) in Na vapor, which showed a modulation of the four-wave mixing signal intensity with a 55-fs period, corresponding to the beating between the resonant frequencies of the transitions from 3S1/2{\mathit{S}}_{1/2}S1/2​ to 3P3/2{\mathit{P}}_{3/2}P3/2​ and from 3P3/2{\mathit{P}}_{3/2}P3/2​ to 4D3/2,5/2{\mathit{D}}_{3/2,5/2}D3/2,5/2​. We have also discussed the possibility of using UMSCTS to measure the energy levels of the excited states with Doppler-free precision.
Based on the interference between two two-photon processes, we reported a four-level ultrafast modulation spectroscopy in Na vapor, where 3S, 3P, 5S, and 4D formed a four-level system. We studied the temporal behavior of the four-wave mixing signal intensity and obtained signal modulation with period 25 fs, corresponding to the splitting between 5S and 4D. This technique can achieve Doppler-free precision in the measurement of the energy level splitting between two excited states which are dipolar forbidden from the ground state.
We analyze theoretically the quantum beat and the polarization interference phenomena observed as oscillations in pulsed four-wave mixing. We show that resolution of the signal with respect to the delay between the incoming pulses as well as the detection frequency provides valuable information on the nature of the oscillations. Most importantly, it is very simple to distinguish between polarization interference from two independent optical transitions and quantum beats from a three-level system. In case of polarization interference, the phase of the oscillations shifts \ensuremath{\pi} when the detected frequency passes any of the resonances. In case of quantum beat, the phase has little dependence on the detected frequency near the resonance.
Polarization properties of pure four-wave mixing (FWM) and dressed-FWM processes in a two-level system and a cascade three-level atomic system are theoretically and experimentally investigated. The relative intensities and polarization characteristics of the FWM signals in different laser polarization configurations and different level systems are experimentally investigated and compared. Also, the results are theoretically explained by different transition paths combinations. In the dressed-FWM processes, we study the dependence of dressing effect on the incident field's polarization. The FWM signal generated by a linearly polarized pumping field is suppressed more by the dressing field than the one generated by a circularly polarized pumping field. However, an opposite effect was observed when the probe field's polarization is changed. The multidressing mechanisms are used to explain these effects. In addition, the interference and polarization dependence of the coexisting FWM signals in the same atomic system are discussed.
The nature of the beat modulations observed in nonlinear four-wave mixing in semiconductors is determined by spectral resolution of the time-integrated four-wave-mixing signals. Beats between close-lying bound-exciton resonances in CdSe are found to be described by macroscopic polarization interferences between two noninteracting two-level systems. Beats between heavy-hole excitons and light-hole excitons in GaAs quantum wells, on the other hand, are described by a three-level system, i.e., as a true quantum interference phenomenon.
In femtosecond degenerate four-wave mixing experiments in sodium vapor, quantum beats are observed at the wavelength of the third harmonic when the fundamental beams are three-photon resonant. The period of beating, which corresponds to fine structure energy-level splitting, does not change with the atomic number density, buffer gas pressure, or laser intensity. Surprisingly, the third-harmonic signal is observed only at negative time delays for the transient grating pulse sequence. We relate this to the well-known interference effect between excitation pathways involving the fundamental and the third-harmonic fields, which leaves atoms virtually unexcited and prevents formation of population grating.