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Journal de physique

The optical autler-townes effect in doppler-broadened three-level systems

Christian Delsart, J. Keller

Published Jan 1, 1978• 53 citations

Abstract

Some features of the optical Autler-Townes effect as observed in Doppler-broadened three-level systems, including the physical significance of the observed line splitting, the conditions for the observation of the doublet, the doublet separation and the detuning effects, are discussed in this paper. A graphical illustration of the phenomenon, based on a search for on-resonance velocity groups, is proposed which allows a complete qualitative discussion of the effect and shows that the observed doublet is not really a splitting of the resonance as for the atom at rest but rather corresponds to a frequency hole where the laser probe does not see any resonant velocity group. The method is applied to real three-level systems of neon as typical cases. A semi-classical density-matrix calculation is performed numerically and definitely confirms the results of the qualitative graphical discussion ; furthermore it shows that, for many experimental situations, the first order approximation is inadequate. The observation of the Autler-Townes doublet in a new experiment using two dye lasers is reported. The experimental results and that of one of our previous experiments are compared with the theoretical predictions ; the agreement is quite satisfactory.

DOI: 10.1051/jphys:01978003904035000

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Some features of the optical Autler-Townes effect as observed in Doppler-broadened three-level systems, including the physical significance of the observed line splitting, the conditions for the observation of the doublet, the doublet separation and the detuning effects, are discussed in this paper. A graphical illustration of the phenomenon, based on a search for on-resonance velocity groups, is proposed which allows a complete qualitative discussion of the effect and shows that the observed doublet is not really a splitting of the resonance as for the atom at rest but rather corresponds to a frequency hole where the laser probe does not see any resonant velocity group. The method is applied to real three-level systems of neon as typical cases. A semi-classical density-matrix calculation is performed numerically and definitely confirms the results of the qualitative graphical discussion ; furthermore it shows that, for many experimental situations, the first order approximation is inadequate. The observation of the Autler-Townes doublet in a new experiment using two dye lasers is reported. The experimental results and that of one of our previous experiments are compared with the theoretical predictions ; the agreement is quite satisfactory.

With a coupling laser locked to caesium 6S 1/2 F g =4–6P 3/2 F e =5 cycling transition and a co-propagating probe laser scanned across 6S 1/2 F g =4–6P 3/2 F e =3, 4 and 5 transitions, a novel scheme for sub-Doppler spectra in Doppler-broadened V-type three-level system is demonstrated by detecting the transmission of the coupling laser through a caesium vapour cell. The Autler–Townes doublet in the sub-Doppler spectra of the coupling laser is clearly observed. The effects of coupling laser intensity on the splitting and linewidth of the Autler–Townes doublet are experimentally investigated and the results agree well with theoretical predictions. Taking the multiple hyperfine levels of caesium atom into account, a brief analysis is presented.

Theoretical analysis of the Autler-Townes splitting pattern in a three-level cascade excitation of a Doppler-broadened sample reveals that the observed Autler-Townes splitting is not only a function of the coupling-laser Rabi frequency, as in the homogeneously broadened case, but can also strongly depend on the wavenumber ratio of the coupling and probe lasers. Utilizing a steady-state density matrix formalism, we derive exact expressions for the populations of the intermediate and upper levels for a homogeneously broadened system. In the limit of a weak probe field, analytical expressions for Doppler-broadened excitation spectra from the intermediate and upper levels are derived. Using these expressions, we investigate the critical role of Doppler broadening on the observation of Autler-Townes splitting and its asymptotic behavior as a function of the coupling Rabi frequency for counterpropagating and copropagating configurations for different wavenumber ratios of the lasers.

The effects of Doppler broadening on Autler-Townes (AT) splitting in six-wave mixing (SWM) are investigated by the dressed-state model. We analyze the velocities at which the atoms are in resonance with the dressed states through Doppler frequency shifting and find that, depending on the wave-number ratio, there may be two resonant velocities which can originate from resonance with one of the dressed states or from resonance with two different dressed states. Based on this model, we discuss a novel type of AT doublet in the SWM spectrum, where macroscopic effects play an important role. Specifically, the existence of resonant peaks requires polarization interference between atoms of different velocities in addition to a change in the number of resonant atoms involved. Our model can also be employed to analyze electromagnetically induced transparency resonance and other types of Doppler-free high-resolution AT spectroscopy.

We report the observation of the Autler-Townes absorption spectrum of a two-level atom in a 100% amplitude-modulated optical field. Two frequency-stabilized dye lasers interact with a three-level atomic cascade system. One of the two lasers is used to create the bichromatic field that saturates the lower transition, while the second one is tuned in the frequency between the second and third levels to probe the absorption line shape. We investigate the dependence of the spectrum on the detuning between the average frequency of the bichromatic field and the lower atomic resonance. In order to study the effects of saturation, for every value of the detuning we take a series of data for different intensity levels of the bichromatic field. There is very good agreement between theory and experiment and profound differences from the conventional Autler-Townes results with a monochromatic pump field. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

We present an experimental study of Autler–Townes splitting of non-linear selective reflection spectroscopy in a Λ-type driven three-level system. The sub-Doppler reflection spectroscopy is observed and the Autler–Townes splitting is measured as functions of the different coupling laser intensity and detuning. The coherent drive splits the excited state into two dressed states and an Autler–Townes splitting emerges in the probe reflection. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical fit.

We present an experimental study of Autler-Townes splitting of non-linear selective reflection spectroscopy in a A-type driven three-level system. The sub-Doppler reflection spectroscopy is observed and the Autler-Townes splitting is measured as functions of the different coupling laser intensity and detuning. The coherent drive splits the excited state into two dressed states and an Autler-Townes splitting emerges in the probe reflection. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical fit.