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Journal of Contemporary Physics (Armenian Academy of Sciences)

Selective Reflection of Laser Radiation from Ultrathin Layers of Cesium Atomic Vapors Confined in a Nanocell

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

Published Oct 1, 2018• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The effect of the van der Waals interaction of cesium atoms with the sapphire windows of a nanocell was experimentally investigated using the selective reflection process. The distance L between the windows varied in the range of 50–2000 nm and the nanocell was filled with the vapors of cesium atoms. For the Cs atoms (the transition 6 S 1/2 → 6 P 1/2 ), the C 3 coefficient of the van der Waals interaction with the sapphire windows of the nanocell is measured. It is shown that it is possible to determine the magnetic fields with the spatial resolution of 70 nm using the selective reflection spectrum and, consequently, both the homogeneous and highly gradient magnetic fields can be measured.

DOI
10.3103/s1068337218040059

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Journal of Contemporary Physics (Armenian Academy of Sciences)•Mar 1, 2025•2 citations
The effect of the van der Waals interaction of cesium atoms with the sapphire windows of a nanocell was experimentally investigated using the selective reflection process. The distance L between the windows varied in the range of 50–2000 nm and the nanocell was filled with the vapors of cesium atoms. For the Cs atoms (the transition 6 S 1/2 → 6 P 1/2 ), the C 3 coefficient of the van der Waals interaction with the sapphire windows of the nanocell is measured. It is shown that it is possible to determine the magnetic fields with the spatial resolution of 70 nm using the selective reflection spectrum and, consequently, both the homogeneous and highly gradient magnetic fields can be measured.
Abstract The Van der Waals effect (VW) in 39K atomic vapours was experimentally studied using a nanocell made of technical sapphire. At distances of less than 100 nm from the sapphire surface, a strong broadening of atomic transitions and their frequency shifts to the low-frequency region of the spectrum occur. The method of selective reflection (SR) of laser radiation from the sapphire window-atomic vapours boundary was used as a sub-Doppler method, which made it possible to measure the VW interaction coefficient C3 for the potassium atoms. It is shown that a change in the nanocell thickness from 100 to 50 nm results in a decrease in C3, as calculated from the “red” VW shift, i.e., the so-called “retardation” of the VW effect, which was predicted in theoretical works and experimentally observed. The obtained results are important for the development of miniature submicron devices containing atomic vapours.
Abstract The influence of interaction of Cs atoms with a dielectric surface on position and shape of the hyperfine components of the D2 line in the case of nanometer-scale distance between the atom and the surface is investigated. Using a wedged nanocell enabled investigating the dependence of shift of all hyperfine components of the D2 line corresponding to Fg = 3 → Fe = 2, 3, 4 and Fg = 4 → Fe = 3, 4, 5 transitions on distance L between the atoms and the surface of a sapphire window in the interval from 50 to 400 nm. At L smaller than 100 nm, atomic transitions experience strong broadening due to van der Waals interaction and shift to lower frequencies (the red shift). Calculation of the second derivative (SD) of the absorption spectra of vapors in a nanocell allows spectrally resolving the hyperfine components of an atomic transition down to L ~ 50 nm and determining the van der Waals interaction coefficient C3. It is demonstrated that the spectrum experiences an additional red shift with increase in the density of atoms at L < 100 nm. In contrast, a blue shift occurs with increase in the density of atoms at relatively large distances between the atoms and the surface (L ~ 400 nm). The above results are important for development of miniature submicron-size devices containing alkali metals.
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.
The van-der-Waals effect (VW) in 39K atomic vapours was experimentally studied using a nanocell made of technical sapphire. At distances of an atom from the sapphire surface of less than 100 nm, a strong broadening of atomic transitions and their frequency shifts to the low-frequency region of the spectrum occur. The method of selective reflection (SR) of laser radiation from the sapphire window-atomic vapours boundary was used as a sub-Doppler method, which made it possible to measure the VW interaction coefficient C3 for the potassium atoms. It was shown that a change in the nanocell thickness from 100 to 50 nm leads to a decrease in C3 calculated from the "red" VW shift, i.e. the so-called "retardation" of the VW effect, which was predicted in theoretical works, was experimentally registered. The obtained results are important in the development of miniature submicron devices containing atomic vapours.
Using the spectrum of selective reflection (SR) of laser radiation from the boundary of the surface of the dielectric window of the spectroscopic nanocells – pairs of rubidium atoms, the value of the magnetic field applied to the nanocell is measured. A method is proposed for calculating the magnetic induction B in the range of 0.1–6.0 kG based on the ratio of the frequency intervals between atomic transitions, which greatly simplifies the determination of B, particularly, there is no need for a reference spectrum at B = 0. To implement the SR process a 300-nm column of vapors of Rb atoms is used, and atomic transitions with a sub- Doppler spectral width of 80–90 MHz are formed. This leads to frequency separation of transitions in SR spectrum that is important for the proposed method. SR spectrum can be analyzed using a specially designed computer program that accelerates the data processing. The small thickness of the vapor column allows high spatial resolution, which is important in the case of inhomogeneous magnetic fields.
Abstract The process of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) was investigated using two different probe radiations in Cs atomic vapor: in the first case probe radiation– transmission through a nanocell (NC) with the formation of EITT; in the second–selective reflection (SR) of laser radiation from the boundary of the atom-dielectric vapor (dielectric is nanocell window) with the formation of EITSR. To form EIT resonances, we used two continuous narrow-band lasers with λ = 852 nm and a nanocell with an atomic vapor column thickness in the range of 150–1500 nm. A comparison of the formation of EIT resonance in the first and second cases was carried out. Probe radiation containing EITT and EITSR-resonances propagates in opposite directions. It is noted that in a few cases, the formation of EIT resonance is more effective using SR radiation. The splitting of the EITSR-resonance in the longitudinal magnetic field into seven equidistant components was recorded, which allows remote monitoring of the magnetic field.