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Applied Physics B

Emissions from high-density potassium atoms excited by either nanosecond or femtosecond laser pulses

Dionysios Pentaris, Thomas Efthimiopoulos, Nikolaos Merlemis, Virgilijus Vaičaitis, A. Lyras

Published Mar 1, 2012• 3 citations
Publisher
DOI
10.1007/s00340-012-4910-3

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A theoretical study of the nonlinearity reduction in a four-level system of a potassium atom in the presence of a strong nanosecond laser field, which excites the transition |4S 1/2 ⟩↔|6S 1/2 ⟩ with two photons, is presented. It is shown that the destructive quantum interference between the laser field and the internally generated radiations results in a linear response of the atomic path-1 (|4S 1/2 ⟩↔|6S 1/2 ⟩↔|5P 3/2 ⟩↔|4S 1/2 ⟩) emitted parametric fields. For sufficiently high laser intensities and/or atomic densities, the path-1 emitted fields are driven into saturation, a regime accompanied by a substantial population redistribution among the states. Reasonable agreement between earlier experimental results and the theoretical ones is obtained. It is also shown that upon saturation of path-1, for low atomic density, the path-2 (|4S 1/2 ⟩↔|6S 1/2 ⟩↔|4P 3/2 ⟩↔|4S 1/2 ⟩) is activated. A subtle interplay between laser intensity and atomic density may determine the activation of path-2. Also, it is shown that the path-2 emission |6S 1/2 ⟩↔|4P 3/2 ⟩ is an amplified spontaneous emission process which induces a |4P 3/2 ⟩↔|4S 1/2 ⟩ emission, without population inversion, in a cascade scheme.

Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Jul 29, 2011•10 citations
Conical emission, redshifted from the atomic resonance, is observed when a ∼2-ps laser beam, blueshifted from resonance, propagates through potassium vapor. In contrast, no cone is visible when a 150-fs pulse is used. The 2-ps-pulse-induced cone has a unique, small, angular spread of Δθ/θ≈0.1, compared with Δθ/θ≈0.3 from other pulsed experiments, which used 25-ps–5-ns-excitation pulses. In addition, the fraction of the 2-ps-pulse power emitted in the cone reached 7.5%, far exceeding this fraction from the longer-pulse experiments. An additional, unexpected result is that the spectral width of the laser pulse is narrower, without significant intensity loss, after propagation through the vapor. The vapor densities and laser detunings that yield cones in the present experiment are similar to those from the longer-pulse experiments. Although the 2-ps-pulse spectrum partially overlaps the resonance, the cone spectrum and cone angles versus density and laser detuning are similar to those previously reported for nanosecond pulses. The fourth (blue-detuned) wave required for satisfying four-wave mixing is absent, again equivalent to what is observed in the nanosecond experiments. The physical origin of cone emission by pulsed excitation of atomic vapors is still largely unknown, and this high efficiency and narrow angular spread of a spectrally broad cone further contradicts existing models, perhaps ultimately providing a clue to a correct explanation.
A numerical study, stimulated by existing experimental results concerning the temporal dynamics of internally generated radiations, is presented for a four-level system of the potassium atom. An intense nanosecond duration laser pulse excites the two-photon transition and initiates the generation of internal radiations from quantum noise. It is shown that the temporal profiles of the generated radiations along the atomic path-1, ( ) and path-2, ( ), evolve differently as a function of certain system parameters. It is also shown that the excitation laser intensity affects the parametric emissions along path-1 and the population of the states. The path-2 emissions, which also depend on the excitation laser intensity, are most probably due to amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), without population inversion, in the case of strong excitation. We finally examine the radiation dynamics under the effect of the elastic dephasing collisions between the potassium atoms with the buffer gas atoms.
A theoretical study of the nonlinearity reduction in a four-level system of a potassium atom in the presence of a strong nanosecond laser field, which excites the transition |4S 1/2 ⟩↔|6S 1/2 ⟩ with two photons, is presented. It is shown that the destructive quantum interference between the laser field and the internally generated radiations results in a linear response of the atomic path-1 (|4S 1/2 ⟩↔|6S 1/2 ⟩↔|5P 3/2 ⟩↔|4S 1/2 ⟩) emitted parametric fields. For sufficiently high laser intensities and/or atomic densities, the path-1 emitted fields are driven into saturation, a regime accompanied by a substantial population redistribution among the states. Reasonable agreement between earlier experimental results and the theoretical ones is obtained. It is also shown that upon saturation of path-1, for low atomic density, the path-2 (|4S 1/2 ⟩↔|6S 1/2 ⟩↔|4P 3/2 ⟩↔|4S 1/2 ⟩) is activated. A subtle interplay between laser intensity and atomic density may determine the activation of path-2. Also, it is shown that the path-2 emission |6S 1/2 ⟩↔|4P 3/2 ⟩ is an amplified spontaneous emission process which induces a |4P 3/2 ⟩↔|4S 1/2 ⟩ emission, without population inversion, in a cascade scheme.