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Europhysics Letters (EPL)

Light-induced atomic desorption from porous silica

A. Burchianti, C. Marinelli, Andrea Bogi, Jonathan Richard Brewer, Katharina Rubahn, Horst‐Günter Rubahn, F. Della Valle, E. Mariotti, V. Biancalana, Stefano Veronesi, L. Moi

Published Sep 1, 2004• 38 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Huge light-induced rubidium atom desorption has been observed from porous silica samples placed inside Pyrex cells kept at room temperature. The desorption rate and the maximum vapour density change have been measured as a function of the desorbing light intensity. Their values are comparable with those recently obtained in Pyrex cells coated with organic films. A linear dependence of the desorption rate and a square-root dependence of the maximum density increase on light intensity indicate that diffusion inside the glass pores is a key mechanism. The application of this effect to develop light-controlled atomic dispensers compatible with high vacuum environment is discussed.

DOI
10.1209/epl/i2004-10141-6

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Huge light-induced rubidium atom desorption has been observed from porous silica samples placed inside Pyrex cells kept at room temperature. The desorption rate and the maximum vapour density change have been measured as a function of the desorbing light intensity. Their values are comparable with those recently obtained in Pyrex cells coated with organic films. A linear dependence of the desorption rate and a square-root dependence of the maximum density increase on light intensity indicate that diffusion inside the glass pores is a key mechanism. The application of this effect to develop light-controlled atomic dispensers compatible with high vacuum environment is discussed.
We review some recent studies on light-induced atomic desorption (LIAD) from dielectric surfaces. Alkali-metal atoms adsorbed either on organic films or on porous glass are released into the vapor phase under illumination. The measurements were performed in Pyrex resonance cells either coated with siloxane films or containing a porous glass sample. In both cases, the experimental results show that LIAD can be used to produce atomic densities suitable for most atomic physics experiments. Moreover, we find that photoinduced effects, correlated with LIAD, produce reversible formation and evaporation of alkali-metal clusters in porous glass. These processes depend on the light frequency, making the porous glass transmittance controllable by light.
We present in this paper recent results on Light - Induced Atom Desorption (LIAD) in sealed and open coated cells. LIAD is defined via the description of an experiment on rubidium atoms stored in a dry - film coated cell, where a few milliwatts of even non coherent and non resonant light are able to increase the alkali atomic density for more than one order of magnitude. Modeling of the effect is given. New features become relevant in the case of LIAD in porous glasses: in fact, although the photodesorption efficiency per unit area in bare glass is much lower, photoatomic sources can be prepared, due to the huge inner surface of porous samples. We applied LIAD from organic coatings to the stabilization of alkali densities out of equilibrium: sodium case is here discussed. Finally, we report on fully original, preliminary measurements of rubidium Magneto - Optical Trap loading via LIAD from a dry - film coated cell.
We stabilize the Rb vapor density above its thermal equilibrium value in sealed glass cells, which are generally used in atomic physics experiments. The method relies on light-induced desorption of Rb atoms from dielectric surfaces. The process does not demand high light intensities so that LEDs or laser diodes can be used as desorbing sources. The experiments are carried out in Pyrex cells either coated with a polydimethylsiloxane film or containing a porous glass sample. Under illumination both the organic coating and the porous sample release a large amount of Rb atoms into the cell volume. We show that the Rb vapor density can be maintained to a preset value, using a desorbing light intensity controlled by a feedback signal given by the Rb absorption or fluorescence level. Moreover, we find that the stabilization technique does not depend on the microscopic mechanisms underlying photodesorption.
The study of light induced processes on atoms and nanoparticles confined in organic films or in dielectric structures is motivated both by fundamental interest and applications in optics and photonics. Depending on the light intensity and frequency and the kind of confinement, different processes can be activated. Among them photodesorption processes have a key role. Non thermal light induced atomic desorption has been observed from siloxane and paraffin films previously exposed to alkali vapors. This effect has been extensively investigated and used both to develop photo-atom sources and to load magneto-optical traps. Recently we observed huge photodesorption of alkali atoms embedded in nanoporous silica. In this case the atomic photodesorption causes, by properly tuning the light frequency, either formation or evaporation of clusters inside the silica matrix. Green-blue light desorbs isolated adatoms from the glass surface eventually producing clusters, whereas red-near infrared (NIR) light causes cluster evaporation due to direct excitation of surface plasmon oscillations. Green-blue light induces cluster formation taking advantage of the dense atomic vapor, which diffuses through the glass nano-cavities. Both processes are reversible and even visible to the naked eye. By alternatively illuminating the porous glass sample with blue-green and red-NIR light we demonstrate that the glass remembers the illumination sequences behaving as an effective rereadable and rewritable optical medium.
We present a study of light-induced atom desorption (LIAD) of an alkali-metal atom (Rb) in porous alumina. We observe the variation due to LIAD of the rubidium density in a vapor cell as a function of illumination time, intensity, and wavelength. The simple and regular structure of the alumina pores allows a description of the atomic diffusion in the porous medium in which the diffusion constant only depends on the known pore geometry and the atomic sticking time to the pore wall. A simple one-dimensional theoretical model is presented which reproduces the essential features of the observed signals. Fitting of the model to the experimental data gives access to the diffusion constant and consequently the atom-wall sticking time and its dependence on light intensity and wavelength. The nonmonotonic dependence of the LIAD yield on the illumination light frequency is indicative of the existence of Rb clusters in the porous medium.
We observe Light-induced atomic desorption (LIAD) of Rb and Cs atoms from a PDMS-coated cell containing both atoms at the same time. The desorption rate and the relative vapor density variation have been simultaneously measured for both alkali atoms as a function of the desorbing light intensity and frequency. They show the same behaviour upon the different illumination conditions. This work demonstrates the possibility to provide light controlled atomic dispenser delivering different atomic species using the LIAD effect.