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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Spectroscopic investigations of Rb- and Cs- rare gas systems

Steven J. Davis, Wilson T. Rawlins, Kristin L. Galbally-Kinney, William J. Kessler

Published Feb 12, 2009• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We describe a series of measurements of absorption and laser induced fluorescence using cells that contained cesium and rubidium and krypton as a bath gas. These studies showed strong blue wing absorption to the short wavelength side of the alkali atom D2 lines due to collisionally formed Cs-Kr or Rb-Kr excimers. These studies indicate that these species may be appropriate candidates for optically excited Rb and Cs atomic lasers.

DOI
10.1117/12.815151

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•Jun 1, 2013•2 citations
We describe a series of measurements of absorption and laser induced fluorescence using cells that contained cesium and rubidium and krypton as a bath gas. These studies showed strong blue wing absorption to the short wavelength side of the alkali atom D2 lines due to collisionally formed Cs-Kr or Rb-Kr excimers. These studies indicate that these species may be appropriate candidates for optically excited Rb and Cs atomic lasers.
We describe a series of measurements of absorption and laser induced fluorescence on cells that contained cesium and rubidium and a rare gas: He, Ar, Kr, or Xe. These studies showed strong blue wing absorption to the short wavelength side of the alkali atom D2 lines due to collisionally formed Cs- or Rb-rare gas excimers. We also have observed an efficient two photon excitation of higher lying states in Cs and Rb that produces both intense blue emission and IR atomic emission in the 1.3 to 3.8 μm spectral region.
Lasing on the 62P1/2→62S1/2(D1) resonance transition of atomic Cs at 894.3 nm has been demonstrated in mixtures of Ar, ethane, and Cs vapor by the photoexcitation of ground state Cs-Ar collision pairs and subsequent dissociation of diatomic, electronically-excited CsAr molecules (exciplexes or excimers). The blue satellites of the alkali D2 lines provide a pathway for optically pumping atomic alkali lasers on the principal series (resonance) transitions with broad linewidth (>2 nm) semiconductor diode lasers. In this paper we discuss different variations of this new laser system and the experiments of the initial demonstration.
Photoassociation of alkali-rare gas atomic collision pairs provides an alternative approach to optically pumping atomic alkali lasers. Lasing on the 6 P21/2→6 S21/2 (D1) transition of Cs has been observed when the blue satellite of the 6 P23/2←6 S21/2 (D2) transition, peaking at ∼837 nm for mixtures of Cs vapor, Ar, and ethane, is pumped by a pulsed dye laser. For 50% output coupling, laser threshold with respect to absorbed pump energy is ∼40 μJ at T=435 K and the slope efficiency approaches 10%. The measured spectral breadth for the blue satellite (≳5 nm at 410 K) will accommodate cw pumping of the Cs laser with conventional semiconductor lasers.
In the sealed-off cesium vapor cell studied in this work, a residual rubidium fraction of approximately $\sim1%wasobserved.WeinvestigatetheopticalresponseofthesetraceRbatomsinasealed1 cmlongCs−filledvaporcell.Despitethelowconcentration,laserexcitationat795 nmallowstheobservationofsaturatedabsorptionandelectromagneticallyinducedtransparency(EIT)resonances.ThesurroundingCsvaporeffectivelyactsasabuffermedium,reducingtheRbatomicvelocityandincreasingtheinteractiontimewiththelaserfield,whichimprovestheEITsignal.Theexperimentsareperformedinanall−sapphirecellthatcanbeheatedupto5001\% was observed. We investigate the optical response of these trace Rb atoms in a sealed 1~cm long Cs-filled vapor cell. Despite the low concentration, laser excitation at 795~nm allows the observation of saturated absorption and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) resonances. The surrounding Cs vapor effectively acts as a buffer medium, reducing the Rb atomic velocity and increasing the interaction time with the laser field, which improves the EIT signal. The experiments are performed in an all-sapphire cell that can be heated up to 5001%wasobserved.WeinvestigatetheopticalresponseofthesetraceRbatomsinasealed1 cmlongCs−filledvaporcell.Despitethelowconcentration,laserexcitationat795 nmallowstheobservationofsaturatedabsorptionandelectromagneticallyinducedtransparency(EIT)resonances.ThesurroundingCsvaporeffectivelyactsasabuffermedium,reducingtheRbatomicvelocityandincreasingtheinteractiontimewiththelaserfield,whichimprovestheEITsignal.Theexperimentsareperformedinanall−sapphirecellthatcanbeheatedupto500^{\circ}$C without window blackening, unlike conventional glass cells. From the measured spectra, Cs--Rb collisional cross sections are estimated. These results show that residual atomic species in high-temperature vapor cells can be exploited for spectroscopic and nonlinear-optical studies.
Lasing on the D(1) transition (6P1/22-->6S1/22) of Cs has been observed by photoassociating Cs-Kr atomic pairs with a tunable, pulsed dye laser. Pumping of the blue or red satellites of the Cs D(2) line (62P3/2<==>62S1/2), peaking at approximately 841.1 nm and approximately 853 nm (respectively) in Cs/Kr/C(2)H(6) gas mixtures, provides a photodissociation laser in which the CsKr excimer parent molecule is not, at any point in the pumping process, in a bound electronic state. Relative to the absorbed pump pulse energy, laser slope efficiencies greater than or approximately 5% have been measured when the Cs number density is in the range of 5x10(14)-1.5x10(15) cm(-3) and the pump wavelength is 841.1 nm. Direct photoexcitation of the Cs 6P3/22 state at 852.1 nm under these conditions is a less efficient pathway for pumping the 894.3 nm laser, presumably as a result of competing nonlinear optical processes such as 1+2 resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization of the alkali atom.
Abstract : The Doppler-broadened two-photon absorption (TPA) cross-section for the 52S1/2- 52D5/2 transition in Rb is measured using direct absorption methods. A detailed model of the intensity profile was developed to account for a focused Gaussian beam propagating through a two-photon absorption medium. A peak absorbance of 24% was observed for an intensity of 6.28 kW/cm2 at the focus, a Rb density of 4.6 x 1015 cm-3 concentrations from 1.61-8.52 x 10(15) cm-3 line. Extracting the hyperfine-broadened TPA cross-section from 87 test configurations, while varying the pump power, alkali concentration and focal length, yielded an error weighted average of 6.75x10-21 cm4/W. This cross-section is sufficient for a pulsed dye laser to bleach the pump transition in the Two-Photon Pumped Alkali Laser (TPAL) that lases at 420 nm and 5.2 mum. Additionally, optically pumped atomic rubidium lasers pumped in the blue satellite of the D2 line from the ground Rb-Ar or Rb-Kr collision pair to the dissociative B2 sum 1/2 produce laser emission at 780.2 nm. Lasing is achieved for the Rb-Ar system and 757.1 - 760.4 nm for the Rb-Kr system. Slope efficiencies exceed 0.25% using a heat pipe configuration. The gain is very high with photon build-up times of 1-3.7 ns.