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Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics

Nonlinear interaction of Na Rydberg atoms (Pseries) with infrared and millimeter radiation

Igor M. Beterov, G. L. Vasilenko, Nikolai V. Fateev

Published Jul 31, 1988• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

An experimental investigation was made of nonlinear resonant interaction of CO2 laser radiation (λ = 10.6 μm) and of tunable millimeter radiation (λ = 3.8–5.6 mm) with Rydberg atoms of Na excited to the nP states with n = 11 and 36. These Na Rydberg atoms were formed in an atomic beam as a result of three-stage excitation in accordance with the scheme 3S1/2→3P3/2→4S1/2→nP1/2,3/2. Pulsed tunable organic dye lasers and a laser utilizing the color centers in an LiF crystal were used. The saturation parameters were determined for one-photon 36P–37S (Δn = 1) and 11P–30D (Δn 1) transitions. The transition frequencies and the dipole moments were calculated, an analysis was made of the saturation mechanism, and the field broadening of the resonances was studied. The experimental results compared with theoretical calculations led to the conclusion that under experimental conditions an important role in the saturation effects was played by the Stark effect in an inhomogeneous field which reduced significantly the coherent interaction time. Saturation was observed and a study was made of the characteristics of two-photon absorption due to the 36P–37P transition.

DOI
10.1070/qe1988v018n07abeh012333

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New results are presented of an experimental investigation of the spectrum of 36 P → 37 P two-photon microwave transition in Rydberg atoms of sodium in a constant electric field. Depending on the conditions of excitation of the initial 36 P state (the constant electric field is switched on either before or after the exciting laser pulse) and polarization of laser radiation, a strong variation is observed of the amplitudes of individual two-photon transitions between the fine-structure Stark components of the 36 P and 37 P states. This effect is an analog of the Paschen-Back effect in a strong magnetic field and is due to the break of L-S coupling and to the variation of the wave functions of Rydberg electrons in an electric field. It is also found that the break of L-S coupling affects considerably the shape of double Stark resonance arising upon intersection of the virtual intermediate level of two-photon transition with the real intermediate 37 S level.
An experiment on Ramsey interferometry of the 37S 1/2 → 37P 1/2 microwave transition in sodium Rydberg atoms has been performed. Interaction of Rydberg atoms with a cw microwave radiation was effectively controlled by a pulse of weak (<1 V cm −1 ) electric field, that manipulated the transition frequency near 70 050 MHz. The pulse detuned the microwave radiation from exact resonance, and induced additional phases to the wavefunctions of Rydberg states due to the quadratic Stark shifts. As a result, the Ramsey fringes were observable both on scanning the frequency of the microwave field and on scanning the strength of the electric field pulse. The experiment confirmed that this Stark-switching technique provides a fast and effective control of the atom–light interactions, and preserves the atomic coherence. Possible applications of this technique to experiments on quantum computers are discussed.
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The effect of a double structure of saturated absorption resonance in the field of counterpropagating light waves interacting with an atomic gas is studied. The experimental observation of this effect was first reported in 2011 in a work by our colleagues at the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Laboratory of Frequency Standards). The essence of the effect lies in the fact that, on exciting an open dipole transition, another, narrower, resonance of an opposite sign can be observed at the center of the ordinary saturated absorption resonance. A theoretical analysis of this effect has also been performed in this work in terms of a simple spectroscopic model of an atom with two nondegenerate energy levels without taking into account higher spatial harmonics of atomic polarization and polarizations of light waves (scalar model). The present work is devoted to the development of a theory of the formation of a central narrow resonance for the example of a real F g = 1 → F e = 1 atomic transition and to the study of its main characteristics (amplitude, width, contrast, and amplitude-to-width ratio). In addition, the theoretical results obtained without taking into account the influence of higher spatial harmonics and with inclusion of the influence of first higher harmonics are compared. This comparison shows that their influence on the parameters of the new nonlinear resonance is strong even in moderately intense light fields (R ~ γ, where R is the Rabi frequency). The results of this study can be of interest for quantum metrology, as well as for many experiments in which the laser-radiation frequency is stabilized by the saturated absorption resonance on open dipole transitions in atoms and molecules.
The spectra of three-photon laser excitation (according to the 5 S 1/2 → 5 P 3/2 → 6 S 1/2 → 37 P 3/2 scheme) of mesoscopic ensembles of cold Rb Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap, using cw single-frequency lasers in each stage, have been investigated. The ensembles consisted of 1 to 5 atoms, and their presence was recorded by the selective field ionisation method with postselection according to the number of atoms. The dependence of the spectral shape on the excitation laser pulse duration has been studied. For 2-μs pulses, the minimum spectral width was found to be 1.3 MHz; it was determined by the laser linewidth and the spectral width of laser pulse. For pulses shorter than 0.5 μs, additional spectral broadening and occurrence of Rabi oscillations in the wings of three-photon resonances have been observed, a fact indicative of implementation of coherent three-photon laser excitation of Rydberg atoms. An analysis of the spectra within the four-level theoretical model based on optical Bloch equations showed good agreement between the experimental and theoretical results. The dependence of the shape of three-photon excitation spectrum on the number of recorded atoms was also studied. An increase in the average number of atoms leads to the occurrence of a dip in the single-atom excitation spectra; this dip is due to the specificity of the excitation and detection statistics of Rydberg atoms. The results obtained are important for applications of Rydberg atoms in quantum informatics.