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Journal of Optical Technology

Self-focusing threshold of a beam of laser radiation in rubidium vapor

Vladimir A. Sautenkov, Mikhail N. Shneider, Sergey A. Saakyan, E V Vilshanskaya, D A Murashkin, Boris B. Zelener, B. V. Zelener

Published Nov 1, 2016• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This paper describes the self-focusing of laser radiation in atomic rubidium vapor close to the 5S1/2–5P3/2 resonance transition (780 nm). The self-focusing threshold power is measured at various transverse beam sizes of the laser radiation at the input of a cell with rubidium vapor. An increase of the self-focusing threshold power was observed at small beam diameters of the laser radiation. The results of the measurements were compared with the data of theoretical studies.

DOI
10.1364/jot.83.000667

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This paper describes the self-focusing of laser radiation in atomic rubidium vapor close to the 5S1/2–5P3/2 resonance transition (780 nm). The self-focusing threshold power is measured at various transverse beam sizes of the laser radiation at the input of a cell with rubidium vapor. An increase of the self-focusing threshold power was observed at small beam diameters of the laser radiation. The results of the measurements were compared with the data of theoretical studies.
We report steady-state self-focusing, self-trapping, and self-defocusing of a cw dye laser beam in sodium vapor for frequencies within several Doppler widths of the DDD-line resonance transitions. We measured the variation of the beam profile as the light propagates through the vapor. We observed a 20-mW beam self-trapped in a 12-cm-long filament having a half-power diameter of 70 \ensuremath{\mu}m.
We report steady-state self-focusing, self-trapping, and self-defocusing of a cw dye laser beam in sodium vapor for frequencies within several Doppler widths of the DDD-line resonance transitions. We measured the variation of the beam profile as the light propagates through the vapor. We observed a 20-mW beam self-trapped in a 12-cm-long filament having a half-power diameter of 70 \ensuremath{\mu}m.
The 5S1/2 --> 7S1/2 two-photon transition of atomic rubidium, which is 100 times weaker than the 5S-5D transition, is observed with an extended-cavity diode laser and a vapor cell. Signals with a signal-to-noise ratio of 280 are obtained with a laser power of 10 mW, and the observed linewidth is 3 MHz. The laser wavelength is 760 nm and is locked on the transitions to a stability of 2 x 10(-11). For the first time to our knowledge, the isotope shift of this transition is measured to be 130(4) MHz in atomic frequency.
An investigation of the resonant interaction of the rubidium atoms with an intensity (10 kWcm-2 ≤ I ≤ 2 MWcm-2) and a wavelength close to that of the D1 and D2 transitions of the rubidium atom (5S1/2 → 5P3/2 or 5S1/2 → 5P1/2, λD1 = 780 nm, λD2 = 795 nm), which has passes through rubidium vapor with density (1011 - 1014 cm-3) been studied theoretically. The system of equations describing the processes of Collisional ionization and multiphoton ionization of rubidium vapour resonantly excited with nanosecond pulsed laser is solved. The dependence of the ion density on the laser intensity and the atomic density of rubidium are considered. The result of calculations revealed that, both quadratic ion density dependence on laser intensity and linear behaviour of the ion density versus rubidium density for 5S1/2 → 5P3/2 transition is due to photoioization process. In contrast, for 5S1/2 → 5P1/2 transition, the ion density dependence is nonlinear and indicates that the collisional processes play the major contribution in the total ionization. Also, the obtained results showed reasonable agreement with the experimentally measured values of the ion density dependence given by Bakhramov et al. In addition, the analysis of mutual competition between the different ionization processes considered for the ion yield as a function of both laser intensity and atoms density are also presented this work.
We studied the emission from dense rubidium vapor under 100-fs pulsed laser excitation in the 730--820 nm range. Self-focusing along with a conical emission (CE) was observed for the excitation in the blue wing of D2D2D2 atomic resonance. Self-defocusing occurred for the red-wing excitation. This is in accordance with the theory of the intensity dependent nonlinear refraction index. In the case of the CE observation, our experimental results are attributed to the self-phase modulation of the laser beam interacting with the near-resonant atomic medium.
We report observations of self-focusing and filamentation, i.e., the formation of one or more self-trapped beams, of \ensuremath{\sim}3 ns laser pulses in strontium (Sr) vapor. The experimental arrangement consists of a Sr vapor cell and a pulsed neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet pumped dye laser tuned to the blue of the 461 nm transition in Sr. The spatial intensity distribution of individual self-focused beams has been measured at the exit window of a vapor cell by using a magnifying lens and video camera. Measurements of power dependence, spatial distributions, and scaling behavior for filament formation are in good agreement with theory over a wide range of vapor densities, laser detunings, and laser powers. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.