Repopulation of Highly-excited Vibrational Levels in a Cold Lattice

А. Н. Ораевский, A. A. Stepanov, Vladimir A. Shcheglov

Svetlana Kotochigova

Vasily Kharin, Olga V. Tikhonova

In the present work we analyze the dipole response of a diatomic heteronuclear molecule on the nonperturbative action of the external low-frequency laser field. Main results are obtained by numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation for the nuclear subsystem of the molecule. We study the spectrum of polarization response and the influence of the coherent repopulation of the ro-vibrational states on it. Generally, we consider two cases: repopulation due to Raman-type transitions leading to the interference stabilization of the molecule and repopulation arising as a result of extremely short pulse action. We also study the transformation of a weak probe pulse propagating through the highly excited medium of the studied molecules.

Hans Heil, W. G. Wagner

K. O. Babichev, Daniil I. Provorchenko, D. Mishin +3 more

The deterministic excitation of thulium atoms from the ground vibrational state of the optical lattice potential to the first and second vibrational levels with efficiencies of 40 and 24%, respectively, has been demonstrated. The purity of the prepared vibrational states is at least 93 and 95% in the former and latter cases, respectively, and is limited by both the purity of the initial state and the non-resonant excitation of the clock transition carrier frequency. The obtained high efficiency and quality of the preparation of atoms in a given vibrational level make it possible to characterize and control the frequency shift of the clock transition due to the interaction of thulium atoms with the field of the optical lattice, which is necessary to achieve an uncertainty of 10–17 for the thulium optical clock.

Daniel Kleppner