In the optical pumping experiment for 87Rb gas cell, when the microwave and radio frequency wave are applied simultaneously, the optically detected resonance signals of microwave-radio frequency wave multi-quantum transition are observed.
An optical pumping device, consisting of only 85Rb lamp and 87Rb absorption bulb, is used. The 0-0 transition resonance signal of 87Rb ground state is found to be greater than that in the conventional optical pumping device, in which the 87Rb lamp, 85Rb filter and 87Rb absorption bulb are used. In a definite temperature range, a negative resonance signal is observed. Up to now, it has not been explained yet. The line-width and optical frequency shift are measured. The possibility of applying this device in 87Rb atomic frequency standard is discussed.
A laboratory prototype of a compact quantum frequency standard based on a rubidium vapour cell with pulsed laser pumping is developed. With significantly smaller overall dimensions (a volume of ∼10 L and a mass of ∼10 kg), the frequency standard is expected to have the short-term instability comparable with that of the commercial passive hydrogen masers and even the laboratory fountain-type atomic clocks based on cold atoms. The advantages of the technique of pulsed optical pumping and pulsed excitation of microwave resonances over the traditional techniques of double radio-optical resonance detection are substantiated. The results of the experimental study of pulsed optical pumping of a rubidium cell with a mixture of buffer Ar – Ne gases implemented at the VNIIFTRI are presented, the Ramsey resonances are obtained, and the process of optimising the contrast of the central resonance peak is described.