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Applied Physics Letters

Steady-state excitation of a sodium beam using a cw laser

Gary M. Carter, David E. Pritchard, Theodore W. Ducas

Published Nov 1, 1975• 17 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate a method for maintaining a large fraction (≳17%) of an atomic sodium beam in an excited state. The method uses the Doppler shift to produce, from a single-frequency laser source, a frequency spectrum which prevents optical pumping of the atoms into either of the hyperfine levels of the ground state. A small magnetic field is used to prevent pumping into a magnetic sublevel of the ground state. The method may be used for both the P1/2 and P3/2 fine-structure levels.

DOI
10.1063/1.88548

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Journal of the Optical Society of America A•Feb 1, 1994•53 citations
We demonstrate a method for maintaining a large fraction (≳17%) of an atomic sodium beam in an excited state. The method uses the Doppler shift to produce, from a single-frequency laser source, a frequency spectrum which prevents optical pumping of the atoms into either of the hyperfine levels of the ground state. A small magnetic field is used to prevent pumping into a magnetic sublevel of the ground state. The method may be used for both the P1/2 and P3/2 fine-structure levels.
We discuss some problems associated with obtaining an atomic beam with a large fraction of excited−state atoms. We show, e.g., that for sodium atoms to be pumped up into the 32P1/2 state, they must experience a minimum of three optical frequencies near the D1 line. In order to achieve this with only one optical frequency, the following method is proposed: A strong laser beam impinges three times on an atomic beam, each time under a different angle, in such a way that for one velocity class the Doppler shift generates the three frequencies needed. The effects of the polarization of the laser beams are discussed.
We describe optically pumping a beam of sodium atoms to >96% mS and >92% mS, mI state selection. (We have accurately measured the population of every mS, mI state in the optically pumped beam.) For the optical pumping both ground hyperfine states are pumped, using single-mode cw dye-laser radiation tuned to the 3S1/2–3P1/2 transition that is phase modulated in a LiTaO3 crystal to produce first-order sidebands at approximately the 1772-MHz hyperfine splitting of the ground state. The z-directed optical pumping is performed in a z-directed magnetic field of ~5 G. The state-selected atoms then move, in ~1 cm, into an ~200 G, z-directed field. The downstream probe laser beam is scanned through the 3S1/2 (mS, mI) → 3P3/2 (mS′, mI) transitions, which are spectroscopically resolved at 200 G, and the fluorescence intensities portray the residual populations in each of the eight 3S1/2 states.
A compact source which produces atomic alkali-metal beams in individual hyperfine sublevels has been developed. The methods are demonstrated with 23Na^{23}\mathrm{Na}23Na atoms. Initially nearly all atoms are transferred into one hyperfine sublevel (∣F,mF〉=∣2,2〉|F, {m}_{F}〉=|2, 2〉∣F,mF​〉=∣2,2〉) by a double-resonance technique using laser optical pumping and rf transitions. Subsequently the other hyperfine sublevels can be populated selectively by an adiabatic high-frequency transition. The hyperfine sublevel populations are determined by laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy in a magnetic field.
We have performed experimental and theoretical studies of the deflection of a sodium atomic beam by a laser tuned to the 3 2{\mathrm{}}^{2}2S1/2{S}_{1/2}S1/2​,F=2--3 2{\mathrm{}}^{2}2P3/2{P}_{3/2}P3/2​,F=3 transition. The intensity profile of the deflected beam was measured at different laser power levels and for different laser polarizations. Calculations using a constant force derived from a two-level atom yield deflections which are too large. The results of more realistic simulation calculations agree very well with the measured deflection. Those calculations incorporate the atomic-beam spatial and velocity distributions as well as the laser frequency distribution and polarization state. Optical pumping, loss of atoms to the nonresonant F=1 ground state, and Doppler shifting of the atoms out of resonance are all considered, as also are the statistics and angular distributions of the spontaneous photons.
Calculations of backscatter emission of mesospheric sodium atoms in a laser guide star that is excited by pulses ranging from 30-ns to 0.9-μs duration are described. The efficient use of such pulses at saturating irradiance values is shown to require ~3 GHz of spectral broadening to provide access to the full absorption spectrum of the D2 line. The broadening is provided by frequency modulation. A set of density matrices was used to account for all 24 hyperfine states and inhomogeneous Doppler broadening. At the broadband (3-GHz) saturation irradiance of 4 W/cm2, both linearly and circularly polarized laser beams are shown to produce emission rates exceeding 60% of the maximum possible rate-equation rate for the 0.9-μs pulses. As expected, circular polarization produced more backscatter than did linear polarization, but the enhancement never exceeded 1/3 in the calculations that are reported. A brief estimate of state precession in the Earth’s magnetic field suggests that achieving even this enhancement will require that the time scale for optical pumping be held to less than 1 μs, which will require the use of irradiances greater than 0.7 W/cm2 and spectral coverage of the full 3-GHz hyperfine-plus-Doppler absorption profile, at least until most of the population is pumped out of the F = 1 ground states.