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European Quantum Electronics Conference (EQEC)

Nonthermal light-induced atom desorption: main features and dynamics

E. Mariotti, M. Meucci, C. Marinelli, Paola Bicchi, L. Moi

Published Aug 24, 2005• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The study of the very complicated atom-surface interaction in presence of light had an increasing momentum during these last few years. A new field has been opened by a recent experiment made by Gozzini et al.,1 where a new and interesting effect, consisting in a huge sodium desorption when a silane coated cell is illuminated at room temperature, has been observed. Similar results, still in silane coated cells, have also been obtained by Meucci et al.2 with rubidium and cesium. The effect, shortly indicated hereafter as LIAD (light-induced atom desorption), is totally different from the other processes produced by very intense laser pulses, where the main effect produced by light is a thermal one.

DOI
10.1109/eqec.1994.698334

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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Oct 8, 2010•1 citation
The study of the very complicated atom-surface interaction in presence of light had an increasing momentum during these last few years. A new field has been opened by a recent experiment made by Gozzini et al.,1 where a new and interesting effect, consisting in a huge sodium desorption when a silane coated cell is illuminated at room temperature, has been observed. Similar results, still in silane coated cells, have also been obtained by Meucci et al.2 with rubidium and cesium. The effect, shortly indicated hereafter as LIAD (light-induced atom desorption), is totally different from the other processes produced by very intense laser pulses, where the main effect produced by light is a thermal one.
We report the first experimental evidence of nonthermal light induced atomic desorption (LIAD) from octadecyltrichlorosilane dry film. The experiment has been made with Rb confined in a coated cell kept at room temperature. A detailed study of the main features of LIAD effect has been made by varying intensity and wavelength of desorbing light. A discussion about the differences and similarities with other organic films that were studied first is reported. This result is important as it expands the list of materials showing such an effect and increases the possibilities to get suitable light controlled atomic sources for spectroscopy and applications. In particular, we plan to exploit this feature in a Fr magneto-optical trap apparatus.
This work is devoted to a systematic study of the effect of Light-Induced Atomic Desorption (LIAD). LIAD is a non-heating process in which atoms adsorbed on a surface are desorbed by illumination with non-resonant light. The aim of the dissertation is an experimental study of the LIAD process, its influence on the spectra of alkali atoms in optical cells without and with Anti-Relaxation Coating (ARC) and the possibilities of LIAD for optical characterization of ARC, as well as in high resolution spectroscopy. For the first time, the LIAD process under homogeneous illumination was investigated experimentally, whereby the efficiency of the LIAD was significantly increased even for a cell without ARC, the dynamic characteristics are obtained with a better signal to noise ratio and repeatability, and the desorption and adsorption processes are faster. LIAD effect in cells with different ARC coatings has shown that each coating has different desorption and adsorption rates and the results obtained show the possibility of applying the method for optical characterization of ARC. An experimental study of the number of collisions without atomic spin depolarization in cells with different ARCs and the impact of LIAD was performed, as well as various parameters such as laser intensity and cell temperature were investigated.
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.