We propose and demonstrate pump-probe spectroscopy of rubidium absorption that reveals the sub-Doppler hyperfine structure of the ${}^{5}{\mathrm{S}}_{1/2}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}{}^{5}{\mathrm{P}}_{3/2}$ (
D2) transitions. The counterpropagating pump and probe lasers are independently tunable in frequency, with the probe operating at the single-photon level. The two-dimensional spectrum measured as the laser frequencies are scanned shows fluorescence, Doppler-broadened absorption dips, and sub-Doppler features. The detuning between the pump and probe lasers allows compensation of the Doppler shift for all atomic velocities in the room-temperature vapor, meaning we observe sub-Doppler features for all atoms in the beam. We detail a theoretical model of the system that incorporates fluorescence, saturation effects, and optical pumping and compare this with the measured spectrum, finding a mean absolute percentage error of 3.11%. This high level of agreement allows us to extract the number density and temperature of the
Rb vapor from the two-dimensional spectrum. In the future this technique could be used as an atomic frequency standard for calibrating and characterising a single-photon or low-light-level source.
We report the fabrication of alkali-metal vapor cells using femtosecond laser machining. This laser-written vapor-cell (LWVC) technology allows arbitrarily-shaped 3D interior volumes and has potential for integration with photonic structures and optical components. We use non-evaporable getters both to dispense rubidium and to absorb buffer gas. This enables us to produce cells with sub-atmospheric buffer gas pressures without vacuum apparatus. We demonstrate sub-Doppler saturated absorption spectroscopy and single beam optical magnetometry with a single LWVC. The LWVC technology may find application in miniaturized atomic quantum sensors and frequency references.