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Journal of Contemporary Physics (Armenian Academy of Sciences)

Frequency reference for atomic transitions of Rb D2-line based on the effect of selective reflection

Armen D. Sargsyan, G. Hakhumyan, A. S. Sarkisyan, A. Amiryan, David G. Sarkisyan

Published Oct 1, 2016• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

On an example of the D 2 -line of the Rb atoms the work of the frequency reference of atomic transitions is demonstrated, based on the application of the spectrum of a selective reflectance (SR) from the boundary of atom vapors with the use of nano-cell (NC) with the thickness L ~ λ /2, where λ is the laser wavelength equal to 780 nm. When changing the thickness of the nano-cell near the thickness L ~ λ /2, we observe the inversion of sign of the SR slope profile which is positive when L < λ /2 and negative when L > λ /2. In the case when the incidence angle of the laser beam on the surface of the nano-cell is close to the normal, in real-time it is possible to form the derivative of the SR which represents a resonance peak with ~35 MHz spectral linewidth and located at the atomic transition. The phenomenon of oscillation of the sign of slope while changing the nano-cell thickness from L ~ λ /2 up to L ~ 3/2 λ is demonstrated. The practical application of the SR is noted.

DOI
10.3103/s1068337216040034

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On an example of the D 2 -line of the Rb atoms the work of the frequency reference of atomic transitions is demonstrated, based on the application of the spectrum of a selective reflectance (SR) from the boundary of atom vapors with the use of nano-cell (NC) with the thickness L ~ λ /2, where λ is the laser wavelength equal to 780 nm. When changing the thickness of the nano-cell near the thickness L ~ λ /2, we observe the inversion of sign of the SR slope profile which is positive when L < λ /2 and negative when L > λ /2. In the case when the incidence angle of the laser beam on the surface of the nano-cell is close to the normal, in real-time it is possible to form the derivative of the SR which represents a resonance peak with ~35 MHz spectral linewidth and located at the atomic transition. The phenomenon of oscillation of the sign of slope while changing the nano-cell thickness from L ~ λ /2 up to L ~ 3/2 λ is demonstrated. The practical application of the SR is noted.
We studied selective reflection (SR) of laser radiation from a window of a nanocell with thickness L ~ λ 1,2 /2 filled with Rb and Cs atoms, where λ 1 = 780 nm and λ 2 = 852 nm are the wavelengths resonant with the D 2 laser lines for Rb and Cs, respectively. It is demonstrated that the negative derivative of the SR signal profile for L > λ /2 changes to the positive one for L < λ /2. It is shown that the real-time formation of the SR signal profile derivative (SRD) with the spectral width 30–40 MHz and located at the atomic transition is, in particular, a convenient frequency marker of D 2 transitions in Rb and Cs. The amplitudes of SRD signals are proportional to the atomic transition probabilities. A comparison with the known saturated absorption (SA) method demonstrated a number of advantages, such as the absence of cross-over resonances in the SRD spectrum, the simplicity of realization, a low required power, etc. An SRD frequency marker also operates in the presence of the Ne buffer gas at a pressure of 6 Torr, which allowed us to determine the Ne–Rb collisional broadening, whereas the SA method is already inapplicable at buffer gas pressures above 0.1 Torr. The realization simplicity makes the SRD method a convenient tool for atomic spectroscopy. Our theoretical model well describes the SRD signal.
The features of the effect of selective reflection from rubidium vapor in a nanocell with the thickness L ≈ λ/2 and L ≈ λ/4, where λ = 795 nm is the wavelength of laser radiation resonant with the Rb D 1 line, are studied. It is shown that, because of the behavior of the nanocell as a low-Q-factor Fabry–Pérot etalon, the sign of the derivative of the selective reflection spectra changes near L ≈ λ/2 from negative at L > λ/2 to positive at L < λ/2. The simplicity of the experimental implementation, large amplitude, and sub-Doppler width (40MHz) of a detected signal at an atomic transition frequency are appropriate for applications in metrology and magnetometry. In particular, selective reflection from the nanocell is a convenient frequency marker of atomic transitions; in this case, the amplitudes of peaks are proportional to the transition probabilities. The remote optical monitoring of a magnetic field with a spatial resolution L = λ/4 ≈ 199 of nm is possible on the basis of the splitting of selective reflection peaks in a strong magnetic field (up to 3 kG). A theoretical model describes well the experimental results.
Abstract The effect of selective reflection (SR) of laser radiation from the boundary of 87 Rb D 2 -line atomic vapors and a dielectric window was studied using a nanocell (NC) with a vapor column thickness of ~300 nm. The formation of an SR with a spectral width of 25 MHz, located on atomic transitions, is demonstrated. This is a record narrowing of the 670 MHz Doppler width by a factor of 27 using single-pass geometry. The SR signal reaches several percent of the intensity of its forming radiation, and the SR amplitude’s linear dependence is maintained up to 100 mW/cm 2 , which is almost two orders of magnitude greater than the saturation intensity of optical processes when using centimeter-long cells with atomic vapors. Such a high saturation intensity value is achieved by using the nanocell.
Sub-Doppler nature of atomic spectra in alkali metal vapor cells of nanometric thickness L (nanocells) allows one to study peculiarities of magneto-optical processes, which occur in a magnetic field for the case when L is of the order of λ (λ is a laser resonant wavelength). We particularly address the issues of practical implementation of the studied processes. The following results are presented. i) A "λ-Zeeman technique" exploiting velocity-selective optical pumping resonances in L = λ Rb cell placed in a B-field, which allows direct determination frequency shifts and modification of transition probabilities of individual Zeeman transitions in magnetic field and is applicable for development of wide-range (~ 0.1 - 1000 mT) optical magnetometers and tunable frequency reference. ii) A technique for locking the laser radiation frequency, B-field-tunable in ~ 500 MHz range, which is based on selective reflection of a circularly-polarized laser beam from Rb vapor cell with thickness L ≈ λ/2.
A new nano-cell with smoothly varying longitudinal thickness of the atomic vapour layer L in the range of 350 - 5100 nm allowing to study the resonant absorption of D1 and D2 lines of Cs atoms for thicknesses changing from L = Lambda/2 to L = 6 Lambda with the step of Lambda/2 (Lambda = 852 nm or 894 nm are the resonant laser wavelengths) and for different intensities is developed. It is revealed that for low laser intensities there is narrowing of the resonant absorption spectrum for the thicknesses L = (2n + 1)Lambda/2 (where n is an integer) up to L = 7Lambda /2 and broadening of the spectrum for L = n Lambda. For relatively high laser intensity (>1 mW/cm2), velocity selective optical pumping/saturated resonances of a reduced absorption (with the line-width close to the natural one), and centred on the hyperfine transitions occur when L = n Lambda. The possible application of these resonance peaks is given. The developed theoretical model describes well the experiment.
Abstract We demonstrate that a method using the derivative of the selective reflection (SR) signal from a nanocell is a convenient and robust tool for atomic laser spectroscopy, achieving a nearly Doppler-free spectral resolution. The recorded linewidth of the signal from a potassium-filled cell, whose thickness ℓ lies in the range 350–500 nm, is 18 times smaller than the Doppler linewidth (∼900 MHz full width at half maximum) of potassium atoms. We also show experimentally a sign oscillation of the reflected signal’s derivative with a periodicity of λ /2 when ℓ varies from 190 to 1200 nm confirming the theoretical prediction. We report the first measurement of the van der Waals atom-surface interaction coefficient C 3 = 1.9 ± 0.3 kHz × μ m 3 of potassium 4 S 1 / 2 → 4 P 3 / 2 transitions with the nanocell’s sapphire windows, demonstrating the usefulness and convenience of the derivative of SR technique for cell thicknesses in the range 60–120 nm.