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Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics

Selective reflection from a glass–gas interface at high angles of incidence of light

A. M. Akulshin, V. L. Velichanskiǐ, A. I. Zherdev, Alexander S. Zibrov, V I Malakhova, V V Nikitin, Vladimir A. Sautenkov, G. G. Kharisov

Published Mar 31, 1989• 13 citations

Abstract

Resonance lines of rubidium and cesium and injection lasers were used in a study of selective reflection from an interface between a transparent dielectric and an absorbing gas as a function of the angle of incidence of radiation and of its polarization, and of the concentration of atoms in a cell. Selective reflection resonances were observed against zero background when radiation was incident on the cell at the Brewster angle. The conditions for observation of selective frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) were determined analytically and experimentally. The maximum reflection coefficient obtained was 95 ± 2%, which was 10 times greater than the nonresonant reflection coefficient. The spectral width of the region where FTIR was observed ranged from 0.1 to 1.5 cm − 1, depending on the concentration of atoms and the angle of incidence. The FTIR eifect was used to construct a selective component which made it possible to ensure narrow-band cw operation of an injection laser with an external resonator. Other potential applications of the FTIR effect in quantum electronics were also considered.

DOI: 10.1070/qe1989v019n03abeh007875

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Resonance lines of rubidium and cesium and injection lasers were used in a study of selective reflection from an interface between a transparent dielectric and an absorbing gas as a function of the angle of incidence of radiation and of its polarization, and of the concentration of atoms in a cell. Selective reflection resonances were observed against zero background when radiation was incident on the cell at the Brewster angle. The conditions for observation of selective frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) were determined analytically and experimentally. The maximum reflection coefficient obtained was 95 ± 2%, which was 10 times greater than the nonresonant reflection coefficient. The spectral width of the region where FTIR was observed ranged from 0.1 to 1.5 cm − 1, depending on the concentration of atoms and the angle of incidence. The FTIR eifect was used to construct a selective component which made it possible to ensure narrow-band cw operation of an injection laser with an external resonator. Other potential applications of the FTIR effect in quantum electronics were also considered.

A series of reflection resonances formed by the hyperfine components of the D 2 -lines in the spectrum of the natural mixture of rubidium isotopes is studied. Passages from resonantly frustrated total internal reflection to resonance Brewster reflection caused by the frequency tuning of the incident light are demonstrated experimentally. The contrast of the strongest refection resonances exceeds 500% at the moderate heating of reflecting cells. The intensity of the reflected light changes in this case by more than 20 times. A theory is developed which is based on a two-level model for resonance atoms and Fresnel formulas for reflection coefficients. Numerical calculations based on the proposed theory confirm main experimental results.

Resonance reflection of light from the interface between a dielectric and an alkali vapor is studied. Two cases are considered in which a laser light beam is polarized either parallel or perpendicular to the plane of incidence. Upon scanning of the frequency of the incident laser radiation, in the first case, the reflection conditions vary from approximately the conditions of Brewster reflection to the conditions characteristics of total internal reflection. In the second case, the Brewster reflection conditions are not realized, and the variations in the intensity of the reflected light observed upon frequency scanning are smaller. The rotation of the plane of polarization and the laser frequency tuning make it possible to rapidly switch between these reflection conditions.

The transformation of intensity fluctuations accompanying the nonlinear resonance reflection of light from a glass-resonant gas interface is discussed. The illumination of the interface at angles close to the critical angle for total internal reflection is found to have certain advantages over orthogonal incidence. At the maximum of the strongest resonance, the reflected light intensity amounts to more than 50% of the incident light. In these conditions, a squeezing of the amplitude (photon) fluctuations is observed in the radiation generated by a semiconductor laser-nonlinear selective reflector system. A simple semiclassical theory adequately describes some important characteristics of this system: the shape of the reflection resonances, the strength of the saturation fields, and so on.

We compare the interactions of spin-polarized Na with glass surfaces that are either bare or silicone coated. For this purpose, we reflect a laser beam that is resonant with the Na atoms from the interface, using an angle of incidence close to the critical angle of total internal reflection. Polarization-selective detection of the reflected light provides information about the ground-state orientation of the atoms, which is created by optical pumping with a second laser beam. Our theoretical description treats the atomic vapor as a homogeneous anisotropic medium characterized by a macroscopic magnetization. Comparative experimental studies performed with silicone-coated and bare glass surfaces provide evidence that wall relaxation can be observed by reflection spectroscopy.

We report the preliminary results of experimental studies of a dense cesium vapor in all-sapphire sealed-off Cs cell (temperature up to 500 °C, atomic and molecular densities up to 1018 and 3.2x1016 cm-3, respectively) in selective reflection (SR) configuration. Probing the vapor by a 780 nm laser radiation scanned in 20 GHz range, we have observed a spectral structure, which appears in the vapor temperature range of 250 - 400 °C. Though the cell is filled with pure cesium, starting from 300 °C we have revealed a noticeable SR contribution of rubidium atomic D2 line transitions that fall in the laser tuning range. The spectral features observed in present work can be attributed not only to cesium dimers (Cs2) having absorption band in this spectral region, but also to RbCs molecules. Relevant spectroscopic properties of these molecules are also addressed. We believe this is the first observation of selective reflection from the interface of dielectric and molecular vapor. More experiments and theoretical treatment is required to clarify the mechanisms involved and identify the origin of each spectral component, the further work program is outlined.

The dipole–dipole broadening of the spectrum of the selective reflection of intense resonance light from the interface between a transparent dielectric and a gas of the natural mixture of Rb isotopes has been studied experimentally. The case of a high gas density where the Doppler broadening can be neglected has been investigated. It has been shown that dipole–dipole broadening is reduced with increasing the number density of excited atoms. When the laser beam intensity is much higher than the saturation intensity of a resonance transition, a significant broadening due to the very high laser beam intensity has not been observed in the reflection spectrum from the transparent dielectric/gas interface. The observed intensity dependence of the spectral width has been explained by the quenching collisions of the excited atoms with the interface.