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Applied Physics Letters

Slow light in narrow paraffin-coated vapor cells

Mason Klein, Michael Hohensee, Alex Nemiroski, Yanhong Xiao, David F. Phillips, Ronald Lee Walsworth

Published Aug 31, 2009• 12 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Alkali vapor cells with antirelaxation coated walls can have long atomic coherence times. However, using such coated cells in the hyperfine configuration for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) requires longitudinal atomic motion to be confined to less than the hyperfine wavelength. We employed a narrow (1 mm) coated cell geometry to study hyperfine EIT and slow and stored light in warm R87b vapor, with results comparable to those in buffer gas cells and showing the promise of such cells for several applications.

DOI
10.1063/1.3207825

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Alkali vapor cells with antirelaxation coated walls can have long atomic coherence times. However, using such coated cells in the hyperfine configuration for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) requires longitudinal atomic motion to be confined to less than the hyperfine wavelength. We employed a narrow (1 mm) coated cell geometry to study hyperfine EIT and slow and stored light in warm R87b vapor, with results comparable to those in buffer gas cells and showing the promise of such cells for several applications.
Antirelaxation coatings in atomic vapor cells allow ground-state coherent spin states to survive many collisions with the cell walls. This reduction in the ground-state decoherence rate gives rise to ultranarrow-bandwidth features in electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectra, which can form the basis of, for example, long-time scale slow and stored light, sensitive magnetometers, and precise frequency standards. Here we study, both experimentally and theoretically, how Zeeman EIT contrast and width in paraffin-coated rubidium vapor cells are determined by cell and laser-beam geometry, laser intensity, and atomic density. Using a picture of Ramsey pulse sequences, where atoms alternately spend ``bright'' and ``dark'' time intervals inside and outside the laser beam, we explain the behavior of EIT features in coated cells, highlighting their unique characteristics and potential applications.
Preliminary results from an experimental study of slow light in anti-relaxation-coated Rb vapour cells are presented, and the construction and testing of such cells are described. The slow ground state decoherence rate allowed by coated cell walls leads to a dual-structured electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectrum with a very narrow (< 100 Hz) transparency peak on top of a broad pedestal. Such dual-structured EIT permits optical probe pulses to propagate with greatly reduced group velocity on two time scales. Ongoing efforts to optimize the pulse delay in such coated cell systems are discussed.
Abstract We explore light storage in antirelaxation-coated and buffer-gas-filled alkali vapor cells, employing electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in warm rubidium vapor. We conduct a comparative study of light storage performance under identical experimental conditions for these two cell types. Using a buffer-gas-filled cell resulted in approximately a tenfold improvement in memory efficiency and storage time compared to antirelaxation-coated cells. Moreover, we demonstrate that memory efficiency can be further enhanced by choosing a near-resonant EIT Λ\LambdaΛ Λ -scheme over a resonant one. Our findings provide valuable insights for optimizing light storage, thereby contributing to the development of field-deployable quantum memories.
An alkene-based antirelaxation coating for alkali-metal vapor cells exhibiting Zeeman relaxation times up to 77 s was recently identified by Balabas et al. The long relaxation times, two orders of magnitude longer than in paraffin- (alkane-) coated cells, motivate revisiting the question of what the mechanism is underlying wall-collision-induced relaxation and renew interest in applications of alkali-metal vapor cells to secondary frequency standards. We measure the width and frequency shift of the ground-state hyperfine $m{}_{F}=0\ensuremath{\rightarrow}m{}_{F}^{\ensuremath{'}}=0$ transition (clock resonance) in vapor cells with 85{}^{85}85Rb and 87{}^{87}87Rb atoms, with an alkene antirelaxation coating. We find that the frequency shift is slightly larger than for paraffin-coated cells and that the Zeeman linewidth scales linearly with the hyperfine frequency shift.
This letter reports light narrowing in paraffin-coated vapor cells from room temperature 27℃ to 59℃, where spin-exchange relaxation is suppressed. By means of a coating lock and eliminating the reservoir effect, an ultra-narrow magnetic resonance linewidth of 0.36 Hz and an atomic coherence lifetime of T₂ = 0.9 s are achieved. In cells free of buffer gas, the narrow linewidth over this broad temperature range is a result of enhanced spin polarization, which is facilitated by the effective suppression of radiation trapping benefiting from the stability of the vapor density. Using such cells in atomic magnetometers, the photon shot noise limit is estimated as 0.2 fT/rtHz and the spin-projection noise limit is estimated as 1.1 fT/rtHz. Also, a magnetometer system with the stable coated cell is identified, which demonstrates the potential for achieving relatively stable magnetometer sensitivity without precisely controlling the cell temperature. The long coherence lifetime and broad operating temperature range expand the potential applications of quantum memory and other quantum sensors such as atomic clocks.