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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Optical stimulated emission transitions in Rydberg matter observed in the range 800–14 000 nm

Leif Holmlid

Published Dec 17, 2003• 35 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The stimulated emission signal from a tunable cavity with Rydberg matter as the lasing medium is studied. The Rydberg matter is excited by heating through a non-radiative process. The emission bands are resolved by diffraction up to the fifth order using several different gratings in the cavity. The signal variation with wavelength is strong, especially in the wavelength range <2000 nm. The wavelength variation of the signal over the range 800–14 000 nm is compared with Rydberg matter theory giving good agreement. The transitions observed are from down to 6–21. There are no bands in the visible range, which is explained from the possible excitation levels in Rydberg matter. Reflecting some light out of the cavity gives lower gain (higher loss) and sharper bands, demonstrating that the device is indeed a working laser.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/37/2/005

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The stimulated emission signal from a tunable cavity with Rydberg matter as the lasing medium is studied. The Rydberg matter is excited by heating through a non-radiative process. The emission bands are resolved by diffraction up to the fifth order using several different gratings in the cavity. The signal variation with wavelength is strong, especially in the wavelength range <2000 nm. The wavelength variation of the signal over the range 800–14 000 nm is compared with Rydberg matter theory giving good agreement. The transitions observed are from down to 6–21. There are no bands in the visible range, which is explained from the possible excitation levels in Rydberg matter. Reflecting some light out of the cavity gives lower gain (higher loss) and sharper bands, demonstrating that the device is indeed a working laser.
Wave-number blueshifts of single-mode laser light in low-density Rydberg matter are found to be due to stimulated Raman processes. The Rydberg matter is mainly formed from Rydberg states of K atoms. The lasers used are mW continuous-wave lasers in the ir, lead-salt tunable diode lasers. Of special significance is the blueshifting observed as shifts of Fabry-Perot etalon fringes of the order of 0.05 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$. This blueshifting is explained as due to complete conversion to anti-Stokes radiation through higher-order stimulated Raman shifting by extremely small quanta from the near continuum of energy levels in the metallic Rydberg matter phase. Complicated strong shifts of intensity to larger wave numbers in the laser modes are also observed, due to coupling of laser side modes to the anti-Stokes waves. The high efficiency of the stimulated Raman process is partly due to the weak coupling to other degrees of freedom.
Lasing was achieved in barium vapor near an absorption line at the λ = 553.5 nm wavelength corresponding to the 61S0–61P1 resonance transition. Barium vapor produced in an arc discharge was placed in the resonator of a dye laser having a stimulated emission spectrum of ~ 5 pm half-width. In the presence of additional weak broad-band radiation, the lasing spectrum consisted of two components symmetric relative to the center of the absorption line. This lasing was due to stimulated Raman scattering by a population grating and was most efficient in regions where the difference between the frequencies of the strong and weak fields coincided with the Rabi frequency. A quantitative comparison was made between theory and experiment on amplification without population inversion in a two-level system. Holographic interference spectroscopy was used to study experimentally the behavior of the susceptibility (the absorption coefficient and the refractive index) under conditions of resonant interaction. Good agreement was obtained between the behavior of the dispersion of the refractive index and the theoretical dependence. The highest gains were kv ≈ 10 cm −1 when the barium atomic concentration was N ≈ 5 × 1016 cm −3.
We have investigated the fluorescent and stimulated emission properties of PrCl3 as a function of the pump laser wavelength, pump power, and temperature. The previously reported laser emission at 645.2 nm has been studied at 295°K and at lower temperatures. At low temperatures we have observed stimulated emission at three new wavelengths, 616.8, 529.8, and 489.2 nm. The linewidths and lifetimes of various optical transitions have been measured and related to the observed optical gain at the above wavelengths. We have also observed stimulated output in 1% Pr in LaCl3.
The value of the Einstein BBB coefficient for stimulated emission for a collection of atoms interacting with a radiation field is shown to depend upon the velocity distribution of the excited atoms and also upon the variation of field intensity with frequency. An emission line narrowing phenomenon for radiating matter enclosed in a nonresonant cavity with reflecting walls is predicted. It is shown that a loss mechanism must be introduced if significant line narrowing is to result from a single pass of radiation through an amplifying medium. An additional contributing effect to the mode pushing and mode pulling phenomena in a gas laser is demonstrated. A method of setting a gas laser to a predetermined frequency is described.
We have excited helium atoms from their metastable 2 3S{}^{3}\phantom{\rule{-0.16em}{0ex}}S3S state to Rydberg states in the range 13<n<5013<n<5013<n<50 in a two-step process via the 3 3P{}^{3}\phantom{\rule{-0.16em}{0ex}}P3P state using light at $\ensuremath{\lambda}=389$ nm and 785--815 nm. Atoms in a thermal beam (100 K) cross partially overlapping laser beams of the appropriate frequencies in the counterintuitive order to exploit the high efficiency of stimulated rapid adiabatic passage. The interaction region is between two plates that can be used for Stark tuning in a few V/cm field or for field ionization. At fields much too low for field ionization, we observe signals attributed to ionization by blackbody radiation. Multiple tests confirm this attribution as the cause of ionization. For example, by heating the plates we observe the expected signal increases. Our experiments reinforce previous work where the interaction between Rydberg atoms and room temperature blackbody radiation is important for experiments.
We report the first Raman study of the Rydberg matter form of Cs, using a ns pulsed dye laser. Electronic Raman anti-Stokes and mixed Stokes processes are detected in the range 290--920 nm after nonresonant excitation at 564 nm. No fluorescence is observed. The anti-Stokes transitions are from a high circular Rydberg state to a low circular state 8J8J8J in Cs+{\mathrm{Cs}}^{+}Cs+, close to 4F4F4F in Cs. The Stokes transitions are mixed in one more step with the laser radiation, and go from low circular states to Rydberg matter states. The transitions observed agree well with transitions in Cs+{\mathrm{Cs}}^{+}Cs+.