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Japanese Journal of Applied Physics

Theoretical Analysis of Rb and Cs D2 Lines in Saturation Spectroscopy with Optical Pumping

Shigeru Nakayama

Published Jul 1, 1984• 27 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The relative intensities of the Doppler-free signals of 85Rb and Cs D2 lines in saturation spectroscopy were calculated theoretically, taking into account the optical pumping process in a four-level system. The optical pumping effect in saturation spectroscopy is important when atoms with long-lived lower states are pumped by a weak beam. The theoretical results calculated from a simple analysis without any knowledge of the saturation parameters were found to be in good agreement with the experimental results on Rb and Cs D2 lines previously obtained using semiconductor laser.

DOI
10.1143/jjap.23.879

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The relative intensities of the Doppler-free signals of 85Rb and Cs D2 lines in saturation spectroscopy were calculated theoretically, taking into account the optical pumping process in a four-level system. The optical pumping effect in saturation spectroscopy is important when atoms with long-lived lower states are pumped by a weak beam. The theoretical results calculated from a simple analysis without any knowledge of the saturation parameters were found to be in good agreement with the experimental results on Rb and Cs D2 lines previously obtained using semiconductor laser.
The relative intensities of the Doppler-free signals of the 85Rb and Cs D2 lines in saturation spectroscopy, velocity-selective optical pumping (VSOP) spectroscopy, and polarization spectroscopy were calculated theoretically, taking into accont the optical pumping process in the Zeeman sublevels and arbitrary polarization combinations for pump and probe beams. Both circular and linear optical anisotropy induced by the pump beam were considered in the theoretical calculation. The magnitude and sign of the Doppler-free resonances in each spectroscopic method were quite different owing to the polarizations of the pump and probe beams. The theoretical results obtained from a single-cycle optical pumping in a four-level approximation were in good agreement with recent experimental reports.
A theoretical analysis of the relative intensities of the Doppler-free signals in saturation spectroscopy, velocity selective optical pumping (VSOP) spectroscopy, polarization spectroscopy and a mixing of saturation and polarization spectroscopies is presented using the approximation of a single cycle of optical pumping in a four-level system. An optical pumping process in the Zeeman sublevels is taken into account owing to the important role of spontaneous emission even if the sublevels are degenerate. Arbitrary polarization combinations are considered for pump and probe beams. The similarities and differences between three kinds of spectroscopy are made clear. Both circular and linear optical anisotropies induced by the pump beam are considered in this theoretical calculation. The magnitude and sign of Doppler-free resonances in each spectroscopy are quite different owing to the polarizations of the pump and probe beams. The four-level system is important as a three-level approximation. The results obtained from the four-level optical pumping theory are in good agreement with experimental reports.
The relative intensities of the Doppler-free signals in the transition from polarized and dispersive signals to absorptive signals of the Na D1 line are calculated theoretically from the approximation of a single cycle of opticalpumping in a four-level system. The transition from polarized signals to saturated signals is made by varying the angle of an analyzer. Since the signal in polarization spectroscopy is mixed with the signal in saturation spectroscopy during the transition, spurious signals due to saturation and polarization effects should be taken into account in the signal analysis of polarization and saturation spectroscopies, respectively. Both theories, of polarization spectroscopy and saturation spectroscopy are unified and applied to the Doppler-free signals of the Na D1 line. The results obtained from the four-level optical pumping theory which mixes polarization spectroscopy with saturation spectroscopy are in good agreement with experimental reports.
In this paper the saturation spectra of rubidium vapour at room temperature, obtained with overlapped co-propagating laser beams, were examined. Unlike the standard saturation spectroscopy, here the transmission of the pump laser beam was detected. The pump laser was locked to an atomic transition of the D2 line, while the probe laser frequency was scanned in a wide frequency range. The pump and probe beams had approximately the same intensities; thus the probe laser can saturate transitions and contribute to optical pumping. This, together with Doppler broadening, leads to rich pump transmission spectra, with many lines appearing due to the interaction of lasers with atoms in different velocity groups. The advantages of this method are well-resolved structures and appearance of spectral lines on a flat, Doppler-free background. Agreement between experimental and theoretical results shows the usefulness of this simple model, based on the rate equations, for identification of lines and determination of relative contribution to the observed line intensity from atoms with different velocities. Theoretical spectra are a useful tool for the calibration of experimental spectra obtained by a nonlinear dependence of the laser frequency on the voltage applied to the piezo used for the laser diode frequency scanning.
A theoretical analysis of the D1 lines of alklai atoms in Doppler-free polarization spectroscopy, velocity-selective optical-pumping (VSOP) spectroscopy, and saturation spectroscopy is presented that uses the approximation of a single cycle of optical pumping in a four-level system. The similarities and differences among these three kinds of spectroscopy are made clear, and the magnitude and the sign of the resonances in each spectroscopic technique are calculated. The four-level system is as important as a three-level approximation, which has already been described in many papers. We deal with linear and circular optical anisotropies induced in polarization, VSOP, and saturation spectroscopy.
Laser spectroscopy experiments are often conducted with a probe that does not significantly alter the medium’s properties. For a two-level atom a clear measure of the strength of a probe beam in terms of the saturation intensity is known. We show that for a multilevel atom the situation is very different, and the effects of optical pumping are crucial to understanding the opacity of the medium. We present a simple theoretical analysis for Doppler-broadened spectroscopy of alkali metals on the D2 line that emphasizes the importance of the transient nature of the population dynamics, and the crucial role of the distribution of the times of flight of atoms through the probe beam. Experimental results are obtained with room temperature rubidium vapor probed by an extended-cavity diode laser and confirm our theoretical prediction.