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Optics Express

Manipulating the transmission of vector beam with spatially polarized atomic ensemble

Xin Yang, Aiping Fang, Jinwen Wang, Yunke Li, Xiyuan Chen, Xinqi Zhang, Mingtao Cao, Dong Wei, Klaus J. Müller‐Dethlefs, Hong Gao, Fuli Li

Published Feb 4, 2019• 15 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Vector beams (VBs) with potential applications are successfully utilized in many fields as light sources with a spatially-varying polarization profile in recent years. Here, we study the transmission of a VB by manipulating atomic polarization via the optical pumping effect. By using hybridly and radially polarized beams as pump and probe beams in a counter-propagating configuration, we observe a four-petal pattern intensity distribution of probe beam, and the four-petal pattern rotates with the polarization state orientation of the pump beam. The results show a polarization dependent absorption in the atomic media. We experimentally demonstrate the absorption characteristics under different polarization combinations of pump and probe beams. The Jones matrix method is used to explain this phenomenon and the simulations are consistent with the experimental observation. Our results may provide a sound foundation for applications in optical manipulation and quantum information in atomic ensembles.

DOI
10.1364/oe.27.003900

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Vector beams (VBs) with potential applications are successfully utilized in many fields as light sources with a spatially-varying polarization profile in recent years. Here, we study the transmission of a VB by manipulating atomic polarization via the optical pumping effect. By using hybridly and radially polarized beams as pump and probe beams in a counter-propagating configuration, we observe a four-petal pattern intensity distribution of probe beam, and the four-petal pattern rotates with the polarization state orientation of the pump beam. The results show a polarization dependent absorption in the atomic media. We experimentally demonstrate the absorption characteristics under different polarization combinations of pump and probe beams. The Jones matrix method is used to explain this phenomenon and the simulations are consistent with the experimental observation. Our results may provide a sound foundation for applications in optical manipulation and quantum information in atomic ensembles.
Vector beams with spatially varying polarization distribution in the wavefront plane have received increasing attention in recent years. The manipulation of vector beams both in intensity and polarization distributions is highly desired and under development. In this work, we study the transmission property of vector beams through warm rubidium vapor and realize controllable transmission of vector beams based on atomic dichroism. By utilizing the linearly polarized beam and vector beams as the pump and probe beams in a pump–probe configuration, a spatially-dependent dichroism can be obtained, which leads to spatially varied absorption of the probe beam. The controllable intensity distribution of the probe beam, as a two-petal pattern, can rotate with the variation of the pump beam's polarization states. We experimentally demonstrate the mechanism of dichroism with linear polarization light and provide an explanation based on the optical pumping effect. Alternatively, the varying trend of the probe beam's intensity is also interpreted by utilizing the Jones matrix. Our results are thus beneficial for providing potential applications in optical manipulation in atomic ensembles.
In recent years, vector beams (VBs) with spatially varying polarization profiles have been used in many fields. Here we study the transmission properties of a hybrid VB passing through atomic vapor. We observe a four-petal pattern which is induced by the rapid transport of atomic coherence. This intensity distribution can be modified by coherence attenuation and absorption enhancement controlled by an external magnetic field. A second experiment with orthogonal circularly polarized states shows that the quantum coherence can be induced by two spatially separated laser beams and support our interpretation of our results for the hybrid VB experiment. Our results may have applications in optical manipulation, the measurement of magnetic fields, and the study of quantum coherence in atomic ensembles.
Vector beams with spatially variant polarization have attracted much attention in recent years, with potential applications in both classical optics and quantum optics. In this work, we study a polarization selection of spatial intensity distribution by utilizing a hybridly polarized beam as a coupling beam and a circularly polarized beam as a probe beam in Rb87 atom vapor. We experimentally observe that the spatial intensity distribution of the probe beam after passing through atoms can be modulated by the hybridly polarized beam due to the optical pumping effect. Then, the information loaded in the probe beam can be designedly filtrated by an atomic system with a high extinction ratio. A detailed process of the optical pumping effect in our configurations and the corresponding absorption spectra are presented to interpret our experimental results, which can be used for the spatial optical information locally extracted based on an atomic system, which has potential applications in quantum communication and computation.
In our previous studies, we reported polarization-dependent profile variations in modulation transfer spectroscopy, including enhanced error signals and modified absorption profiles, which could not be fully explained by conventional models. In this work, we propose a unified physical framework to interpret these phenomena by introducing the concept of atomic spatial polarization-dependent transmission. Using hybrid polarized vector beams as both pump and probe in a counter-propagating configuration, we demonstrate that polarization-induced anisotropic absorption arises from optical pumping dynamics mediated by the vector beam structure. We further show that, when coherent population trapping (CPT) is introduced via dual-frequency laser excitation, the formation of an atomic dark-state population markedly enhances transmission contrast and gives rise to pronounced spectral features. We observed that narrowing the full width at half maximum of the saturated absorption spectrum nearly doubled the MTS signal amplitude. These effects manifest as spatially modulated intensity patterns in the probe beam, thereby revealing CPT-enhanced, polarization-selective transmission in atomic media. Our results not only explain previously observed polarization-induced signal enhancements but also offer new insights into spatially coherent manipulation of atomic populations, with implications for precision spectroscopy and laser stabilization.
Vector beams with spiral phase and spatially varying polarization profiles have many applications from optical micromanipulation to materials processing. Here, we propose and demonstrate an atomic spatial mode extracting scheme for the vector beam based on polarization-dependent absorption in the atom vapor. By employing the linear polarization pump beam which induces polarization sensitive absorption in the atomic ensemble, a counter-propagated weak probe vector beam is extracted by spatial absorption, and extracted part still maintains the original polarization and the vortex phase. The topological charges of the extracted mode are verified by interfering with the Gaussian beam, and it can be found that the orbital angular momentum is conserved in the extracting process. Our work will have potential applications in non-destructive spatial mode identification, and is also useful for studying higher-dimensional quantum information based on atomic ensembles.
We investigate the phase-induced susceptibilities for both components of the probe vector beam (PVB) within an atomic system. The atoms are prepared in a nondegenerate four-level configuration. The transitions are coupled by a $\ensuremath{\pi}$ polarized control field and two orthogonally polarized components of a PVB. We show that the linear susceptibility of the medium depends on the phase shift between the control field and PVB, characterizing loss or gain in the system. Additionally, the phase shift causes polarization rotation in the vector beams (VBs) as they propagate. We further study the effect of nonlinearity on the VB propagation through the medium for a couple of Rayleigh lengths. The self-focusing and defocusing phenomena are observed for radial, azimuthal, and spiral VBs. The special chain-like self-focusing and defocusing leads to the formation of consecutive smaller spot sizes with moderate gain. Therefore, the mechanism of control of susceptibility and self-focusing may hold promise for applications such as transitioning from an absorber to an amplifier, high-resolution microscopy, and optical trap systems.