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Journal of Physics B Atomic and Molecular Physics

The Autler-Townes effect in an optical pumping experiment

Helmut Bechtel, D. Fick

Published May 14, 1987• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Using a laser RF double-resonance technique optical Autler-Townes splitting was observed for 23 Na atoms. Despite the complicated level structure of the optical pumping scheme the main features of the data can be understood in terms of a three-level system. The interpretation of the experiment is useful in the production of highly nuclear-spin-polarised alkali-metal atomic beams by optical pumping.

DOI
10.1088/0022-3700/20/9/007

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The object of this paper is to derive theoretically the conditions for the observation of the Autler-Townes splitting in a two step resonance experiment involving the simultaneous effects of two visible monochromatic radiations in a three-level system. First, the three-level system is considered at rest and optical pumping to other levels is ignored; in this case, the problem is solved analytically. Following this case, optical pumping effects are taken into account. Finally, one considers a collection of identical three-level systems in a cell, the two light beams traveling either in the same direction or in two opposite directions. In this latter case, the problem is practically identical to the one for a three-level system at rest.

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arXiv:0904.2553•Physical Review Letters•Nov 2, 2009•161 citations
Using a laser RF double-resonance technique optical Autler-Townes splitting was observed for 23 Na atoms. Despite the complicated level structure of the optical pumping scheme the main features of the data can be understood in terms of a three-level system. The interpretation of the experiment is useful in the production of highly nuclear-spin-polarised alkali-metal atomic beams by optical pumping.
The object of this paper is to derive theoretically the conditions for the observation of the Autler-Townes splitting in a two step resonance experiment involving the simultaneous effects of two visible monochromatic radiations in a three-level system. First, the three-level system is considered at rest and optical pumping to other levels is ignored; in this case, the problem is solved analytically. Following this case, optical pumping effects are taken into account. Finally, one considers a collection of identical three-level systems in a cell, the two light beams traveling either in the same direction or in two opposite directions. In this latter case, the problem is practically identical to the one for a three-level system at rest.
Some features of the optical Autler-Townes effect as observed in Doppler-broadened three-level systems, including the physical significance of the observed line splitting, the conditions for the observation of the doublet, the doublet separation and the detuning effects, are discussed in this paper. A graphical illustration of the phenomenon, based on a search for on-resonance velocity groups, is proposed which allows a complete qualitative discussion of the effect and shows that the observed doublet is not really a splitting of the resonance as for the atom at rest but rather corresponds to a frequency hole where the laser probe does not see any resonant velocity group. The method is applied to real three-level systems of neon as typical cases. A semi-classical density-matrix calculation is performed numerically and definitely confirms the results of the qualitative graphical discussion ; furthermore it shows that, for many experimental situations, the first order approximation is inadequate. The observation of the Autler-Townes doublet in a new experiment using two dye lasers is reported. The experimental results and that of one of our previous experiments are compared with the theoretical predictions ; the agreement is quite satisfactory.
The authors describe measurements of the Autler-Townes splitting in optical transitions in uranium using pulsed lasers in a double optical resonance experiment. These measurements give absolute values for transition strengths. Although the resolution of the experiments is insufficient to show explicitly either the magnetic degeneracy of the levels, or the quantum mechanical oscillations which arise from the pulse shape, theoretical analysis shows that both these effects contribute significantly to the observed lineshapes. Separate experiments in which a third laser was used to ionize the uranium through an autoionizing level were also performed and a fit to the ion yield as a function of laser intensities provides confirmation of the coupling strengths derived from the double optical resonance experiments.
In recent years, coherent effects in atomic and molecular systems have been studied extensively, especially in several new classes of effects, such as lasing without inversion (LWI), electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), coherent population trapping (CPT), AC Stark effect and Autler-Townes (AT) splitting in multilevel systems. The AC stark effect and Autler-Townes splitting in molecules have only been investigated recently. We demonstrate AC stark effect and Autler-Townes (AT) splitting in a lithium molecule using cw multi-photon spectroscopy. The excited upper level of the G1PigG^{1}\\Pi_{g}G1Pig​ is prepared by the optical-optical double resonance (OODR) excitation. The OODR line is split in the presence of a third coupling laser, which couples the upper level to an another intermediate level when the coupling laser is on or near resonance transition. The AT line shape consists of the superposition of ∣MJ∣|M_{J}|∣MJ​∣ components which have been resolved for G1Pig(v=12,J=3,f)G^{1}\\Pi_{g}(v=12, J=3,f)G1Pig​(v=12,J=3,f). We find that the AT splittingis linearly proportional to ∣MJ∣|M_{J}|∣MJ​∣, which allows the excitation of molecules with a selected ∣MJ∣|M_{J}|∣MJ​∣ level. The AC Stark shift of the OODR line is observed when the coupling laser is detuned from the resonance transition.
When a three-level quantum system is irradiated by an intense coupling field resonant with one of the three possible transitions, the absorption peak of an additional probe field involving the remaining level is split. This process is known in quantum optics as the Autler-Townes effect. We observe these phenomena in a superconducting Josephson phase qubit, which can be considered an "artificial atom" with a multilevel quantum structure. The spectroscopy peaks can be explained reasonably well by a simple three-level Hamiltonian model. Simulation of a more complete model (including dissipation, higher levels, and cross coupling) provides excellent agreement with all of the experimental data.