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Applied Optics

Thin-cell sub-Doppler spectroscopy by spatially separated beam method and pump-probe method

Atsushi Mikata, U. Tanaka, Shinji Urabe

Published Feb 4, 2008• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate two methods that improve the resolution of sub-Doppler spectroscopy using a 1 mm thick vapor cell. The linewidths of the observed spectra are approximately 1 order of magnitude narrower than the Doppler width. The first method involves using a 1 mm thick cell filled with Rb atomic vapor and two spatially separated laser beams. By employing the same principle, we also demonstrate that it is possible to achieve the same resolution by using the pump and probe pulses of a single beam. The latter method enables us to construct a simple and robust optical setup for sub-Doppler spectroscopy.

DOI
10.1364/ao.47.000639

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We experimentally demonstrate two methods that improve the resolution of sub-Doppler spectroscopy using a 1 mm thick vapor cell. The linewidths of the observed spectra are approximately 1 order of magnitude narrower than the Doppler width. The first method involves using a 1 mm thick cell filled with Rb atomic vapor and two spatially separated laser beams. By employing the same principle, we also demonstrate that it is possible to achieve the same resolution by using the pump and probe pulses of a single beam. The latter method enables us to construct a simple and robust optical setup for sub-Doppler spectroscopy.
This work continues a theoretical investigation of the capabilities of the well-known method based on using a monochromatic probe light beam in combination with optical pumping of atoms (molecules) of a rarefied-gas medium by a broadband radiation in a thin cell the diameter of which is much larger than its internal thickness. In contrast to calculations carried out in the previous publications on this method of spectroscopy, here, we consider the case of arbitrary values of pump intensity and thickness of a cylindrical gas cell. Thus, all the possible mechanisms and specificities of velocity selection of atoms in optically excited levels caused by transit-time relaxation of such atoms in gas cells of this kind are analyzed. Within the framework of this approach, sub-Doppler absorption resonances of the probe light beam corresponding to quantum transitions from the upper level excited by optical pumping are investigated. The obtained results can be used in high-resolution spectroscopy of atoms (molecules), as well as for laser-frequency stabilization to established narrow spectral resonances.
Abstract A method of sub-Doppler spectroscopy is proposed, based on the peculiarities of narrowing over time of the velocity distribution of optically excited atoms (molecules) of a rarefied gas medium in a thin cell after exposure to a sufficiently short pulse of broadband radiation. Recording of narrow sub-Doppler resonances at the central frequencies of quantum transitions from the atomic state excited by such a pump pulse is carried out by subsequent probe monochromatic light pulses. The optimal conditions for the implementation of this spectroscopy method occur when the radiation decay time of an optically excited atomic level exceeds the characteristic time of flight of atoms between the walls of the thin cell under consideration, the inner thickness of which is many times smaller than its transverse dimensions.
We report on high-resolution single-light-beam transmission spectroscopy through an ultra thin vapor cell (thickness 10–100 μm). In addition to the expected Doppler-broadened absorption, a novel sub-Doppler structure is observed under normal incidence irradiation. This structure originates from the optical response of atoms with very small velocity components perpendicular to the cell walls, and is connected with the transient atom excitation regime during the wall-to-wall time of flight. In experiments performed in Cs vapor, the slow mechanism of optical pumping leads, for weak light intensities (10–100 μW/cm 2 ) and a 10 μm cell, to a velocity selection equivalent to an effective 1D temperature in the sub-mK range.
The paper is the review of methods, achievements, and possibilities of the recently elaborated and well tested high-resolution laser spectroscopy based on sub-Doppler absorption and polarization resonances (on centers of quantum transitions), which arise because of the optical pumping and specific transit relaxation of atoms (molecules) in a thin cell with a rarefied gas. Theoretical basis of this spectroscopy is presented. Experimental technique and results on the record of the sub-Doppler spectral structure of Cs and Rb atoms and on the frequency stabilization of diode lasers by given spectroscopy methods are discussed.