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Bulletin of the American Physical Society

Transient dynamics of bichromatically driven two-level atoms

Qilin Wu

Published May 1, 1993• 0 citations
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Abstract

We experimentally investigate the transient dynamics of two-level atoms under bichromatic optical excitation. Novel new dynamical behavior is observed that may be interpreted classically in terms of the vector model or in a modem vein as resonant monochromatic excitation of dressed atoms. We show the first observation of dressed-atom optical mutations. We also show that the system dynamics depend critically on the initial relative phase of the two excitation-field components and that controlled bichromatic excitation may lead to complete dressed-state polarization of initially ground-state atoms.

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Physical Review A•Oct 1, 1987•20 citations
We experimentally investigate the transient dynamics of two-level atoms under bichromatic optical excitation. Novel new dynamical behavior is observed that may be interpreted classically in terms of the vector model or in a modem vein as resonant monochromatic excitation of dressed atoms. We show the first observation of dressed-atom optical mutations. We also show that the system dynamics depend critically on the initial relative phase of the two excitation-field components and that controlled bichromatic excitation may lead to complete dressed-state polarization of initially ground-state atoms.
We experimentally investigate the transient dynamics of two-level atoms driven by a bichromatic optical excitation field when the bichromatic field is configured to contain a strong resonant component and a weaker nonresonant perturber component. We concentrate on the experimental situation in which the two-level atoms are prepared in an eigenstate (dressed state) of the coupled atom-resonant field system prior to exposure to the perturber field. We experimentally demonstrate perturber-field-induced, optical nutation of the dressed-state populations. We show how nutation of the dressed-state populations manifests itself in the fluorescence signal of the transiently driven atoms. We observe that the detuning of the perturber field from transitions between the dressed states of the atom-resonant field system plays the same role in determining the character of the dressed-state optical nutation as the atom-field detuning in the case of the ordinary optical nutation of atomic populations. Our experiments demonstrate the utility of the dressed-atom picture in understanding the complex dynamics of bichromatically driven atoms in a variety of circumstances.
Theoretical studies have shown that the transient dynamics of an undamped two-level atom, driven by a bichromatic laser field consisting of a strong resonant pump and a moderate strength tunable perturber, are complex. Among the interesting results, it has been found that the strong field tends to stabilize the atom against the influence of the perturber field.1 Exceptions occur when the perturber is detuned from the strong field by the Rabi frequency of the pump or its subharmonics. In addition, it has been found that the atomic response depends strongly on the initial relative phase of the two excitation-field components.1,2 We have constructed an experimental apparatus to study the transient response of two-level like Yb atoms to bichromatic field excitations. The transient bichromatic laser field is generated by sending a dye laser beam double pass through an AOM driven by a bichromatic rf field. All the optical field parameters, amplitudes, frequencies, and phases, are controlled by corresponding rf field parameters.
We have studied the transient response of undamped two-level atoms to excitation by a classical bichromatic field consisting of a strong resonant component and a moderate-strength, tunable, ``perturber'' component. It is found that the strong field tends to stabilize the atom against the influence of the perturber field. Exceptions to this general result occur when the perturber is detuned from the strong field by the Rabi frequency of the latter or its subharmonics. We believe this stabilization phenomenon is a semiclassical analog of the effect that leads to the dynamical modification of spontaneous emission [M. Lewenstein and T. W. Mossberg, Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 775 (1987)], and the presence of detunings at which the stabilization fails provides a simple motivation for the Rabi subharmonic resonances found in certain cw bichromatic spectra. Interestingly, when the perturber field is relatively weak, detuned from the atomic resonance by the strong-field Rabi frequency, and turned on with a specific initial phase relative to the strong field, one finds that the bichromatic field can be employed to dressed-state polarize initially ground-state atoms. In a related vein, we find that perturbations at the subharmonic detunings lead to interesting phase-dependent atomic dynamics. Results were obtained using both numerical and approximate analytical techniques entirely within the context of the rotating-wave approximation. The validity of the latter is ensured by demanding that all detunings and Rabi frequencies are vanishingly small compared to the atomic transition frequency.
We have studied the response of atoms in a dilute collimated atomic beam to transient phase-controlled resonant excitation fields. We demonstrate that the use of such excitation makes it possible to place the atoms into stationary states of the coupled atom-field system. We show that these states, which are easily visualized in the two-level-atom vector model, are equivalent to the dressed states of resonance fluorescence theory. Studies of atoms in pure dressed states should allow interesting tests of basic atom-field interactions.
We analyze the transient probe spectra that arise when two-level atoms in an atomic beam are excited by a ``pump'' laser field and are probed by a step-function weak field on the same atomic transition. The temporal relaxation of the probe spectra to their steady-state values is found to depend critically on the initial atom--pump-field dressed-state populations and coherences. The transient spectra may be composed of absorption-emission structure that is totally absent in the steady-state limit. A simple physical interpretation of the spectra is given in terms of a conventional dressed-atom picture. In addition, we study the effects of collisions on transient probe spectra and investigate the transient buildup of several collision-induced features in the spectra.