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Optics Letters

Diode-laser noise spectroscopy of rubidium

D. H. McIntyre, J. Cooper, R. Walser, Clifford E. Fairchild

Published Nov 1, 1993• 59 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on spectra obtained by measuring the laser intensity noise after a broad-bandwidth diode-laser beam passes through a rubidium vapor cell. The atomic resonance converts laser frequency fluctuations into intensity fluctuations. We compare our experimental spectra with numerically calculated spectra based on a phase-diffusion model of the laser field and find good agreement.

DOI
10.1364/ol.18.001816

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We report on spectra obtained by measuring the laser intensity noise after a broad-bandwidth diode-laser beam passes through a rubidium vapor cell. The atomic resonance converts laser frequency fluctuations into intensity fluctuations. We compare our experimental spectra with numerically calculated spectra based on a phase-diffusion model of the laser field and find good agreement.
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There has been much interest in the influence of the laser noise on the atomic system. So far theoretical works have been performed on calculation of the mean values and the variance of the fluctuated atomic populations, and verified through observation of the fluctuating resonance fluorescence from the atomic vapors. Yabuzaki et al. have observed the excess intensity noise of the resonant light from a diode laser propagated through alkali atomic vapor. They have measured the intensity power spectrum of the light when the laser was tuned near the D2 line of Cs and observed all corresponding hyperfine-splitting resonances in the excited state and Zeeman splitting resonances within a hyperfine level of the ground state. Walser et al. have theoretically studied the intensity fluctuation of laser light propagated through a weakly absorbing medium. The calculated power spectrum of a phase-diffusing field has been found qualitative agreement with the experimental results by Yabuzaki et al. on hyperfine-splitting resonances. Recently, Mitsui has reported a new type of noise spectroscopy with a highly stabilized diode laser. He has investigated the spontaneous noise appeared in optical detection of magnetic resonance of Rb atoms. In this note we report the first observation of hyperfine spectra in the ground state of K and K appearing as the intensity fluctuation at hyperfine splittings of 462MHz and 254MHz of circularly polarized light from a diode laser transmitted through a sample cell. We have also observed the Zeeman hyperfine spectra of K in a static magnetic field. We show that the spectra are strongly dependent of the direction of the static magnetic field. Their splittings as functions of the strength of static magnetic field are compared with the Breit–Rabi formula. The experimental apparatus is quite simple as shown in Fig. 1. The diode laser used was an ordinary Fabry–Perot type with output power of 5mW, operating near the D1 line (769.9 nm) of K atoms. The output of the laser was circularly polarized and applied to a cell containing K vapor at a temperature 90 C, corresponding atomic density to be about 1:15 10 cm 3. The transmitted light was detected by an avalanche photo-diode having frequency response up to 1GHz. The output of the photo-diode was applied to a rf frequency analyzer to obtain the power spectrum of the fluctuation of the transmitted light intensity. A static magnetic field is provided by two pairs of Helmholtz coils mutually perpendicular and about 90 cm in diameter. The strength of the magnetic field is calibrated by using magnetic resonance signals of optically pumped Rb atoms. Figure 2 shows the frequency spectrum of the intensity fluctuation of transmitted light observed when the laser was tuned to the transition from the state F 1⁄4 1 in the ground state to the state F0 1⁄4 1 in the excited state by adjusting the driving current of the laser diode. Sharp resonance signals can be seen at the hyperfine splittings of K and K, 462 and 254MHz, respectively, on the background of broad noise spectrum. When a weak static magnetic field H0 is applied to the K vapor, the hyperfine spectra of K splits into several lines (the effective gyro-magnetic ratio of K is known to be 1⁄4 2 700 kHz/G). Figures 3(a) and 3(b) show the observed Zeeman hyperfine spectra of K for
Summary form only given. Efficient conversion of laser frequency noise to amplitude noise takes place when a laser propagates through a resonant medium. This is demonstrated in the case of a solitary diode laser having the usual frequency or phase noise with a bandwidth of /spl sim/30 MHz but very low amplitude noise, propagating through a Doppler-broadened K vapor cell. The lineshape of the noise as a function of laser frequency near the K resonance has the characteristic M shape of FM spectroscopy. Measurements of the RF noise spectrum of the emergent beam in the case where the diode laser is near the 770 nm resonance of K reveals the ground state hyperfine structure of the K atoms at 460 MHz.
In order to clarify the mechanism of increased laser relative intensity noise (RIN) in the diode laser pumped gas-cell atomic clock, we have performed experiments examining the influence of laser linewidth, /spl Delta/v/sub L/, on RIN. Our measurements are consistent with the phase noise (PM) to intensity noise (AM) conversion theory: laser phase fluctuations induce fluctuations in the absorption cross section of the atomic vapor and these yield fluctuations in the transmitted intensity of the laser. In the experiments, transmitted RIN of a beam from a 100 kHz linewidth diode laser was compared with that from a 60 MHz linewidth diode laser after each was passed through a cell containing natural rubidium vapor. We present some results of computational theory showing that for laser linewidths less than the atomic dephasing rate of the atomic vapor, RIN is proportional to /spl radic/(/spl Delta/v/sub L/); however, for laser linewidths greater than the atomic dephasing rate RIN is a decreasing function of /spl Delta/v/sub L/.
We explore the use of degenerate four-wave-mixing (DFWM) intensity noise fluctuations as a spectroscopic tool for the study of atomic dynamics. Experimental results obtained from the spectral analysis of the intensity noise of the DFWM signal produced by a free running diode laser in a rubidium vapor cell are presented. For low exciting field intensities, the spectra are single peaked with a linewidth comparable to the atomic natural linewidth while at higher intensities a structure devleops revealing the existence of a dynamic Stark effect. The results are compared with numerical simulations of the power spectrum of the DFWM signal produced by a phase-diffusing field incident on two-level atoms.