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Laser Physics

Tunable frequency stabilization to Zeeman sublevel transitions between an intermediate state and Rydberg states

Shanxia Bao, Hao Zhang, Jian Zhou, Linjie Zhang, Jianming Zhao, Liantuan Xiao, Suotang Jia

Published Dec 7, 2016• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract We demonstrate a robust method of direct laser frequency locking on the Zeeman sublevel transitions between an intermediate state and Rydberg states, with continuously tunable frequency range from −35 MHz to +35 MHz, which is based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectra of nondegenerate Zeeman sublevels in a Rydberg cascade system. With a small axial magnetic field, the EIT spectrum will split into two individual sub-peaks due to the Zeeman Effect of three energy levels, including the 133 Cs 6S 1/2 , 6P 3/2 and n l Rydberg states which form the cascade system. It is shown that the coupling field, corresponding to the transitions between the Zeeman sublevels of the intermediate state and Rydberg state, can be locked arbitrarily on any one of the two EIT sub-peaks. The frequency stability of locked lasers is bounded by 0.81 MHz. The root of Allan variance of the frequency reaches a minimum of 2.06 × 10 − 8 for an averaging time of 512 s.

DOI
10.1088/1555-6611/27/1/015701

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Abstract We demonstrate a robust method of direct laser frequency locking on the Zeeman sublevel transitions between an intermediate state and Rydberg states, with continuously tunable frequency range from −35 MHz to +35 MHz, which is based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectra of nondegenerate Zeeman sublevels in a Rydberg cascade system. With a small axial magnetic field, the EIT spectrum will split into two individual sub-peaks due to the Zeeman Effect of three energy levels, including the 133 Cs 6S 1/2 , 6P 3/2 and n l Rydberg states which form the cascade system. It is shown that the coupling field, corresponding to the transitions between the Zeeman sublevels of the intermediate state and Rydberg state, can be locked arbitrarily on any one of the two EIT sub-peaks. The frequency stability of locked lasers is bounded by 0.81 MHz. The root of Allan variance of the frequency reaches a minimum of 2.06 × 10 − 8 for an averaging time of 512 s.
We propose a technique for frequency locking a laser to the Zeeman sublevel transitions between the 5P3/2 intermediate and 32D5/2 Rydberg states in 87Rb. This method allows for continuous frequency tuning over 0.6 GHz by varying an applied external magnetic field. In the presence of the applied field, the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectrum of an atomic vapor splits via the Zeeman effect according to the strength of the magnetic field and the polarization of the pump and probe lasers. We show that the 480 nm pump laser, responsible for transitions between the Zeeman sublevels of the intermediate state and the Rydberg state, can be locked to the Zeeman-split EIT peaks. The short-term frequency stability of the laser lock is 0.15 MHz, and the long-term stability is within 0.5 MHz. The linewidth of the laser lock is ∼0.8 and ∼1.8 MHz in the presence and absence of the external magnetic field, respectively. In addition, we show that in the absence of an applied magnetic field and adequate shielding, the frequency shift of the lock point has a peak-to-peak variation of 1.6 MHz depending on the polarization of the pump field, while when locked to Zeeman sublevels, this variation is reduced to 0.6 MHz. The proposed technique is useful for research involving Rydberg atoms, where large continuous tuning of the laser frequency with stable locking is required.
We herein develop and demonstrate a stable frequency-locking scheme for Rydberg atomic experiments. We use the Zeeman effect to modulate the three-level ladder-type Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) signal to lock the laser frequency of the coupling light for transition from its intermediate state to a Rydberg state. The effects of polarization of the probe and coupling lights, and the amplitude of the AC modulated magnetic field B 0 on the EIT and the corresponding dispersive error signal, are both analyzed. The results show that both the EIT signal and dispersive error signal are the strongest when the polarizations of coupling and probe fields are circular and equal. The signal-to-noise ratio of the dispersive error signal increases with B 0 . The slope of the dispersive error signal increases first and then decreases with B 0 , which is related to the increase of the EIT linewidth caused by the higher B 0 . The linewidth of the laser is significantly less than 500 kHz after frequency locking, which satisfies the requirements of most experiments involving Rydberg atoms. The method proposed herein can generally be applied to any cascade system of Rydberg atoms.
We present a laser frequency locking to Rydberg transition with electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) spectra in a room-temperature cesium vapor cell. Cesium levels 6S 1/2 , 6P 3/2 , and the n D 5/2 state, compose a cascade three-level system, where a coupling laser drives Rydberg transition, and probe laser detects the EIT signal. The error signal, obtained by demodulating the EIT signal, is used to lock the coupling laser frequency to Rydberg transition. The laser frequency fluctuation, ∼0.7 MHz, is obtained after locking on, with the minimum Allan variance to be 8.9 × 10 −11 . This kind of locking method can be used to stabilize the laser frequency to the excited transition.
Rydberg atoms play a pivotal role in the fields of quantum simulation, quantum computing, and quantum sensing, in which the frequency locking and detuning of the laser used to excite the atoms to Rydberg states are crucial. Here, we introduce a novel frequency locking approach for Rydberg lasers at arbitrary frequencies using the Zeeman effect of both DC and AC magnetic fields. The DC magnetic field is used to shift the atomic energy levels, thus altering the frequency locking point, while the AC magnetic field is employed for Zeeman modulation to generate the error signal. This method also enables free tuning of the laser frequency within a sub-hundred MHz range by adjusting the DC magnetic field while maintaining frequency locking.
The polarization spectra of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) for Zeeman sublevels in a cascade system with Rydberg state are demonstrated. The magnitude dependence of Rydberg-EIT on the polarizations of probe and coupling laser fields is studied, and shown mainly due to the strengths of relative dipole matrix elements between degenerate Zeeman sublevels. We further investigate the polarization spectra of Rydberg-EIT in the optimal polarization combinations of left-handed and right-handed circularly polarized fields when an external magnetic field is applied. The existence of nondegenerate Zeeman sublevels in an external magnetic field results in the splitting of Rydberg-EIT. The theoretical calculations are very consistent with the experimental spectra.
Based on the Rydberg cascade electromagnetically induced transparency, we propose a simultaneous dual-wavelength locking method for Rydberg atomic sensing at room temperature.The simplified frequency-locking configuration uses only one signal generator and one electro-optic modulator, realizing real-time feedback for both lasers.We studied the effect of the different probe and coupling laser powers on the error signal.In addition, the Allan variance and a 10 kHz amplitudemodulated signal are introduced to evaluate the performance of the laser frequency stabilization.In principle, the laser frequency stabilization method presented here can be extended to any cascade Rydberg atomic system.