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Laser Physics Letters

Laser frequency stabilization using selective reflection from a vapor cell with a half-wavelength thickness

E. A. Gazazyan, A. Papoyan, David G. Sarkisyan, Antoine Weis

Published Jun 20, 2007• 26 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have experimentally studied the selective reflection spectra of a circularly-polarized laser beam from a sub-micrometric Rb vapor cell with a thickness L around λ/2 (λ = 780 nm being the laser wavelength tuned to the D2line) in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field. Based on the results of these studies, we propose a new method for the tunable locking of the diode laser frequency, which does not require frequency modulation nor complex electronics. The experimental realization of the technique has demonstrated its effectiveness and its competitiveness with the known DAVVL-type methods.

DOI
10.1002/lapl.200710063

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The authors present the result of a study on the realization of an optical frequency standard based on a laser diode frequency-locked to Doppler resonance limited and sub-Doppler resonances of the /sup 87/Rb D/sub 2/-line (5S/sub 1/2/ from or to 5P/sub 3/2/, 780.027 nm). The characteristics of the signals obtained from the resonant phase-conjugate reflection, the nonlinear magnetic optical activity, and the saturated absorption are compared to the characteristics of the linear absorption signal. Improvement of laser diode frequency stability is discussed for these techniques. The experimental results indicate that the more complicated the system, the better defined is the reference line. >

IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement•Apr 1, 1991•24 citations
We have experimentally studied the selective reflection spectra of a circularly-polarized laser beam from a sub-micrometric Rb vapor cell with a thickness L around λ/2 (λ = 780 nm being the laser wavelength tuned to the D2line) in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field. Based on the results of these studies, we propose a new method for the tunable locking of the diode laser frequency, which does not require frequency modulation nor complex electronics. The experimental realization of the technique has demonstrated its effectiveness and its competitiveness with the known DAVVL-type methods.
We report the frequency stabilization of a diode laser by applying the dichroic-atomic-vapor laser lock (DAVLL) method to a thin Rb vapor cell. A 1-mm-long Rb vapor cell is used to obtain a sub-Doppler spectrum that is required for frequency locking, which is easier than in the case of using a saturated absorption spectrometer. A 794-nm diode laser is tuned to the Rb D 1 line, and sub-Doppler signals are observed by introducing a pumping beam and a probe beam in a perpendicular direction. We obtain error signals by subtracting the signals of σ+ polarized beams from that of σ- polarized beams in the presence of a magnetic field and stabilized the 794 nm diode laser frequency without modulating laser parameters. The stability of the 794-nm diode laser is evaluated using other independently stabilized diode laser.
Sub-Doppler nature of atomic spectra in alkali metal vapor cells of nanometric thickness L (nanocells) allows one to study peculiarities of magneto-optical processes, which occur in a magnetic field for the case when L is of the order of λ (λ is a laser resonant wavelength). We particularly address the issues of practical implementation of the studied processes. The following results are presented. i) A "λ-Zeeman technique" exploiting velocity-selective optical pumping resonances in L = λ Rb cell placed in a B-field, which allows direct determination frequency shifts and modification of transition probabilities of individual Zeeman transitions in magnetic field and is applicable for development of wide-range (~ 0.1 - 1000 mT) optical magnetometers and tunable frequency reference. ii) A technique for locking the laser radiation frequency, B-field-tunable in ~ 500 MHz range, which is based on selective reflection of a circularly-polarized laser beam from Rb vapor cell with thickness L ≈ λ/2.
The features of the effect of selective reflection from rubidium vapor in a nanocell with the thickness L ≈ λ/2 and L ≈ λ/4, where λ = 795 nm is the wavelength of laser radiation resonant with the Rb D 1 line, are studied. It is shown that, because of the behavior of the nanocell as a low-Q-factor Fabry–Pérot etalon, the sign of the derivative of the selective reflection spectra changes near L ≈ λ/2 from negative at L > λ/2 to positive at L < λ/2. The simplicity of the experimental implementation, large amplitude, and sub-Doppler width (40MHz) of a detected signal at an atomic transition frequency are appropriate for applications in metrology and magnetometry. In particular, selective reflection from the nanocell is a convenient frequency marker of atomic transitions; in this case, the amplitudes of peaks are proportional to the transition probabilities. The remote optical monitoring of a magnetic field with a spatial resolution L = λ/4 ≈ 199 of nm is possible on the basis of the splitting of selective reflection peaks in a strong magnetic field (up to 3 kG). A theoretical model describes well the experimental results.
We have studied the peculiarities of selective reflection from an Rb vapor cell with a thickness L<70 nm, which is smaller than the length scale of evanescent fields λ/2π and more than an order of magnitude smaller than the optical wavelength. A 240 MHz redshift due to the atom-surface interaction is observed for a cell thickness of L=40 nm. In addition, complete frequency-resolved hyperfine Paschen-Back splitting of atomic transitions to four components for Rb87 and six components for Rb87 is recorded in a strong magnetic field (B>2 kG).
We present a simple technique for stabilization of a laser frequency off resonance using the Faraday effect in a heated vapor cell with an applied magnetic field. In particular, we demonstrate stabilization of a 780 nm laser detuned up to 14 GHz from the (85)Rb D(2) 5(2)S(1/2) F = 2 to 5(2)P(3/2) F' = 3 transition. Control of the temperature of the vapor cell and the magnitude of the applied magnetic field allows locking ~6-14 GHz red and blue detuned from the atomic line. We obtain an rms fluctuation of 7 MHz over 1 h without stabilization of the cell temperature or magnetic field.
The authors present the result of a study on the realization of an optical frequency standard based on a laser diode frequency-locked to Doppler resonance limited and sub-Doppler resonances of the /sup 87/Rb D/sub 2/-line (5S/sub 1/2/ from or to 5P/sub 3/2/, 780.027 nm). The characteristics of the signals obtained from the resonant phase-conjugate reflection, the nonlinear magnetic optical activity, and the saturated absorption are compared to the characteristics of the linear absorption signal. Improvement of laser diode frequency stability is discussed for these techniques. The experimental results indicate that the more complicated the system, the better defined is the reference line. >