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Journal of Physics B Atomic and Molecular Physics

Optical frequency down conversion in caesium vapour

Alan Corney, K Gardner

Published Apr 28, 1979• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Experiments are reported in which a pulsed blue-dye laser beam ( omega L) was focused into a heat-pipe oven containing caesium vapour at densities of about 1023 cm-3. Tunable stimulated electronic Raman scattered infra-red radiation ( omega s) was observed together with radiation in the red region of the visible spectrum produced by optical frequency four-wave down conversion: omega R= omega L-2 omega s. Studies of the angular divergence and power of the red output beam demonstrate the importance of non-collinear phase matching in this process.

DOI
10.1088/0022-3700/12/8/016

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Experiments are reported in which a pulsed blue-dye laser beam ( omega L) was focused into a heat-pipe oven containing caesium vapour at densities of about 1023 cm-3. Tunable stimulated electronic Raman scattered infra-red radiation ( omega s) was observed together with radiation in the red region of the visible spectrum produced by optical frequency four-wave down conversion: omega R= omega L-2 omega s. Studies of the angular divergence and power of the red output beam demonstrate the importance of non-collinear phase matching in this process.
Experiments are reported in which a pulsed dye-laser beam nu L was focused into a heat-pipe oven containing caesium vapour at densities of about 10 17 cm -3 . Optically pumped fixed-frequency infra-red laser emission nu IR and tunable stimulated electronic Raman-scattered radiation nu S were observed. In addition the generation of ultra-violet radiation by coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering nu UV = nu L - nu S + nu IR was detected. Focused-beam phase matching appears to play a significant role in this process.
Optical pumping of cesium vapor in a heat pipe oven in which the energy of two near-infrared photons is close to the 6D states results in high conversion efficiency (up to 1.7%) of the near-infrared pump light to intense blue, forward-propagating radiation. The blue light corresponds to the 7P-6S transition. The dependence of conversion efficiency upon focusing conditions, cell length, and pump intensity is presented. Absorption and gain coefficients are measured in a second heat pipe. The results are discussed in terms of optically pumped stimulated emission (OPSE), stimulated electronic Raman scattering (SERS), and subsequent nonlinear four-wave mixing of two pump-laser photons and one SERS or OPSE infrared photon leading to parametric generation at w = 2WL -wiR.
Optical pumping of cesium vapor in a heat-pipe oven in which the energy of two near-infrared photons is close to the 6D states results in high conversion efficiency (up to 1.7%) of the near-infrared pump light to intense blue, forward-propagating radiation. The blue light corresponds to the 7P-6S transition. The dependence of conversion efficiency upon focusing conditions, cell length, and pump intensity is presented. Absorption and gain coefficients are measured in a second heat pipe. The results are discussed in terms of optically pumped stimulated emission (OPSE), stimulated electronic Raman scattering (SERS), and subsequent nonlinear four-wave mixing of two pump-laser photons and one SERS or OPSE infrared photon, leading to parametric generation at \ensuremath{\omega}=2${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{L}$-${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{\mathrm{ir}}$. Two-photon resonant, three-photon ionization cross sections are also studied experimentally and theoretically for the case of resonant enhancement at the 6D levels of cesium. For comparison, similar results for rubidium are also presented for the 5D levels.
Stimulated electronic Raman scattering, SERS, is a simple method of efficiently generating widely tunable infrared radiation. This work describes techniques by which the tuning capability of this process may be extended. To this end several schemes in Caesium and Barium vapours have been investigated. In Barium vapour two Raman transitions were studied using fixed frequency lasers. Poor performance of one of these transitions led to the application of biharmonic pumping or 'coherent Raman mixing' to enable generation of infrared light, and was the first observation of this process in an atomic vapour. This technique was subsequently used to generate infrared light from tunable dye laser light, which gave continuous tuning from 1.16µm to 1.5µm. The process was found to be limited by atomic saturation. The effect which saturation has on the generation efficiency is considered theoretically, and predicts quite accurately the observed tuning behaviour. Two methods aimed at reducing molecular absorption effects in SERS in alkali vapours were investigated. The techniques employed either laser excitation and dissociation of the molecules or a reduction in their ground state concentration by superheating of the vapour. Some degree of success was achieved in improving the available tuning from the 6s-7s transition in Caesium. However, the inclusion of the effect of collision broadening of atomic transitions into a calculation of the Raman threshold suggests that little further improvement can be obtained on this transition. A direct measurement of the Raman threshold power on the 6s-5d5/2 transition in Caesium gave excellent agreement with theoretical predictions based on collision broadening of this Raman transition. In addition, this work gave an insight into the role photoionization plays in increasing the threshold under certain circumstances. The analysis suggests that laser pulse duration and vapour column length are important in determining whether Raman threshold can be exceeded.
The conversion of a visible dye laser output into tunable infrared (IR) laser radiation via stimulated Raman scattering in Cs vapor was investigated. Small-signal gain, threshold intensity, and conversion efficiency measurements were obtained versus pump laser detuning. Fixed-frequency IR outputs at other wavelengths were also observed. One of these, the7P_{3/2}-5D_{5/2}transition, had a strong lasing component polarized perpendicular to the pump laser polarization. Lasing near the 8523-Å resonance line was attributed to a four-wave parametric interaction as a plausible generation mechanism.
We investigate frequency up-conversion of low power cw resonant radiation in Rb vapour as a function of various experimental parameters. We present evidence that the process of four wave mixing is responsible for unidirectional blue light generation and that the phase matching conditions along a light-induced waveguide determine the direction and divergence of the blue light. Velocity-selective excitation to the 5D level via step-wise and two-photon processes results in a Doppler-free dependence on the frequency detuning of the applied laser fields from the respective dipole-allowed transitions. Possible schemes for ultraviolet generation are discussed.