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Optics Letters

Precision atomic-beam studies of atom-field interactions

Philip Hemmer, Bruce W. Peuse, F. Y. Wu, J. E. Thomas, Shaoul Ezekiel

Published Nov 1, 1981• 15 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have performed a high-resolution study of the interaction of two monochromatic laser fields with a prepared three-level cascade system in an atomic beam of sodium. The pump laser was held fixed near resonance with the lower levels while the probe laser was tuned over the upper two levels. For weak fields we observed a probe line shape that agrees with theory and shows that the intermediate level does not contribute to the linewidth. Data taken with a strong pump field were in disagreement with theory, but this disagreement is removed when atomic recoil suffered during the interaction is included in the calculation.

DOI
10.1364/ol.6.000531

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We have performed a high-resolution study of the interaction of two monochromatic laser fields with a prepared three-level cascade system in an atomic beam of sodium. The pump laser was held fixed near resonance with the lower levels while the probe laser was tuned over the upper two levels. For weak fields we observed a probe line shape that agrees with theory and shows that the intermediate level does not contribute to the linewidth. Data taken with a strong pump field were in disagreement with theory, but this disagreement is removed when atomic recoil suffered during the interaction is included in the calculation.
We have investigated the dynamic Stark effect in a J=0\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0 three-level ladder system in an atomic beam of natural barium. An intense, actively stabilized cw dye laser was tuned to resonance between the upper two levels, and a similar laser was scanned through resonance with the transition connecting the lower two levels. Fluorescence arising from transitions out of the middle and upper levels was separately recorded as a function of probe laser frequency. This is the third and final paper in a series, of which the first two papers investigated theoretically and experimentally the ``weak-probe'' case, where the intensity of the probe laser was sufficiently low for the interaction between the atoms and the probe laser to be linear. In this paper we present an experimental investigation of the ``strong-probe'' case, where both lasers interact nonlinearly with the atoms, and we compare the results with the predictions of a theoretical model based on the optical Bloch equations.
We report the observation of optical amplification in a two-level atomic system driven by a strong, resonant field. By exciting an atomic beam of two-level sodium atoms simultaneously with a strong, fixed-frequency driving field and a weak, tunable, probe field, we have measured the absorption (amplification) line-shape function for several values of driving field strength. In addition, we have verified theoretical predictions that higher amplification is obtained when the strong field is detuned from exact resonance.
When an atomic vapor interacts with an intense nearly resonant laser field, the ac Stark effect causes a profound modification of the weak-field absorption spectrum. Two of the induced spectral features can lead to amplification of a weak probe wave. We have previously measured in atomic sodium vapor high probe-wave gain (G = 38) due to the three-photon effect and a somewhat lower gain (G = 4) when the probe wave is detuned from the pump laser frequency by the inverse of the atomic response time.1 We present the results of an experimental and theoretical study of the energy coupling between two intense laser fields of comparable intensity through their interaction with an atomic vapor. In our experiments, a tunable alexandrite laser provides microsecond laser pulses of the required intensity that are nearly resonant with the 4s → 4p transition in potassium. We observed large energy transfer (50%) between the two waves at the nearly degenerate resonance and measured the intensity dependence of the coupling efficiency. Theoretical modeling of the interaction is based on a continued-fraction solution of the density-matrix equations of motion.
A theory of pump-probe spectroscopy is developed in which optical fields drive two-photon Raman transitions between ground states of an ensemble of three-level atoms. Effects related to the recoil the atoms undergo as a result of their interactions with the fields are fully accounted for in this theory. The linear absorption coefficient of a weak probe field in the presence of two pump fields of arbitrary strength is calculated. For subrecoil cooled atoms, the spectrum consists of eight absorption lines and eight emission lines. In the limit that ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{1}\ensuremath{\ll}{\ensuremath{\chi}}_{2},$ where ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{1}$ and ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{2}$ are the Rabi frequencies of the two pump fields, one recovers the absorption spectrum for a probe field interacting with an effective two-level atom in the presence of a single pump field. However, when ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{1}\ensuremath{\gtrsim}{\ensuremath{\chi}}_{2},$ new interference effects arise that allow one to selectively turn on and off some of these recoil-induced resonances.
Two frequency-stabilized cw dye lasers and an atomic beam were used to prepare sodium atoms in the aligned F=2F=2F=2, MF=2{M}_{F}=2MF​=2 ground state, and to study power broadening in the transition from this ground state to the 3P323{P}_{\frac{3}{2}}3P23​​ F=3F=3F=3, MF=3{M}_{F}=3MF​=3 excited state. This system is, to extremely good accuracy, a two-level atom. The line shape was determined as a function of the incident field strength and found to be accurately a Lorentzian over a large range of incident field strengths. The power broadening and saturation at resonance of the two-level system also agree with theory.
We present the results of an experimental and theoretical study of the gain experienced by a weak probe beam propagating through a sodium vapor in the presence of an intense pump field that is nearly resonant with the 3s→3p atomic transition. This interaction provides a means by which the outputs of two lasers can be combined coherently. The probe transmission spectrum is comprised of three distinct features, two of which result in amplification of the probe wave. The origin of these features can be traced to the modification of the atomic level structure by the ac Stark effect. The experimentally measured spectra are in good agreement with the predictions of a theoretical model based on the solution of the density-matrix equations of motion for a two-level atom and including the effects of Doppler broadening. The dependence of the induced gain on the pressure of a helium buffer gas has been measured and is in good agreement with the predictions of theory. The maximum gain observed in these experiments occurs at one of the Rabi sidebands and leads to a 38-fold increase in the intensity of the probe wave.