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The European Physical Journal D

Electromagnetically induced transparency in a sodium vapour cell

Stanislav B. Baluschev, Norbert Leinfellner, Eugeny Korsunsky, Laurentius Windholz

Published Jan 1, 1998• 13 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on an investigation of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in sodium vapour. In our experiment, sodium atoms are excited on the D1-line with laser radiation containing two components with a frequency difference close to that of the two hyperfine ground states of sodium (1.772 GHz). Such an excitation leads to coherent trapping of atomic population in “dark” superpositional states, which dramatically reduces the absorption of light. A frequency transparency window is measured to have a subnatural width, which is a clear indication of coherent population trapping. Dependence of EIT on laser frequencies and intensities, on the magnetic field strength as well as on the temperature of the sodium vapour is studied.

DOI
10.1007/pl00021560

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We report on an investigation of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in sodium vapour. In our experiment, sodium atoms are excited on the D1-line with laser radiation containing two components with a frequency difference close to that of the two hyperfine ground states of sodium (1.772 GHz). Such an excitation leads to coherent trapping of atomic population in “dark” superpositional states, which dramatically reduces the absorption of light. A frequency transparency window is measured to have a subnatural width, which is a clear indication of coherent population trapping. Dependence of EIT on laser frequencies and intensities, on the magnetic field strength as well as on the temperature of the sodium vapour is studied.
We report electromagnetically induced transparency for the D1 and D2 lines in 6^{6}6Li in both a vapour cell and an atomic beam. Electromagnetically induced transparency is created using co-propagating mutually coherent laser beams with a frequency difference equal to the hyperfine ground state splitting of 228.2 MHz. The effects of various optical polarization configurations and applied magnetic fields are investigated. In addition, we apply an optical Ramsey spectroscopy technique which further reduces the observed resonance width.
Complete electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in sodium vapor is demonstrated experimentally by means of excitation with a broadband multimode dye laser tuned on the D1{D}_{1}D1​ line. One hundred percent transparency is observed by excitation of the Na vapor with circularly polarized laser light. The linear polarization excitation produces, instead, complete destruction of the EIT resonance. For laser power density in the 0.1to1W∕cm20.1\phantom{\rule{0.5em}{0ex}}\text{to}\phantom{\rule{0.5em}{0ex}}1\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{W}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}0.1to1W∕cm2 range, the linewidth of the EIT resonance remains in the interval of 90−−400kHz90--400\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{kHz}90−−400kHz. This complete transparency of the medium in a narrow frequency interval is interesting for many applications where the enhancement of the refractive index is important and where the improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio of the dark resonances allows a more sensitive measurement of weak magnetic fields.
This thesis investigates the parameters of achieving electromagnetically induced transparency, or EIT. The technique of EIT manipulates the properties of atoms to partially cancel the usual absorption of laser light. In this experiment, the effect was observed using the D1 line of rubidium vapor and a Λ -configuration between the degenerate magnetic sublevels of the 5S1/2(F=1) and 5P1/2(F=1) hyperfine states. Among the parameters investigated were the linear and circular polarization of the light used to drive the transitions, the size of the laser beam used, the effects of the temperature of the rubidium interaction cell on EIT, the density of the rubidium atoms in the interaction cell, and the effects of changing the power of the fields used to drive the transitions. Careful measurements of these parameters were made.
This work contains theoretical and experimental studies of the properties of three-level atoms subjected to two single-frequency, continuous-wave laser sources with special emphasis on magnetic-field-induced sum frequency mixing (SFM) and electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT). In sodium vapour, two resonant-enhancement routes for SFM were experimentally studied. In one route (3S-3P-3D) the output is generated on a quadrupole-allowed transition and on the other (3S-3P-4P), a dipole-allowed transition. Phase matching conditions are studied in detail. On the second route, the two contributions to the phase mismatch can combine to heavily distort the spectroscopic lineshapes observed. Doubly-resonant SFM is considered and two paths for excitation of the output coherence are identified. Control of their relative strength, via the input laser strengths, is predicted, as well as interference between them. These are both experimentally observed on the 3S1/2-3P1/2-3D3/2 transition scheme in sodium. Theory is presented to show how the use of a strong upper laser in resonant SFM can, by EIT, greatly reduce the absorption on the lower transition without similarly reducing the nonlinear process. A significant increase in conversion efficiency is predicted. Theory is also presented on the inclusion of the local field correction, which is relevant for high vapour densities, in the Bloch equations for the three-level atom. Nonlinear coherence cross-coupling terms arise and the generalised equations are then used for two case studies; one concerning EIT, the other SFM. EIT is experimentally studied using continuous-wave lasers in rubidium vapour. Focusing and de-focusing were observed on the probe laser beam as it tunes through the transparency window at close, but separate, detunings. This is attributed to the radial intensity profile of the coupling laser which imposes a spatial refractive index modulation on the medium at the probe laser wavelength.
It is experimentally demonstrated that the effect of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) can be controlled through the radiation phases. Corresponding investigations are performed by exciting a sodium atomic vapour by four-frequency laser radiation in a double-Λ configuration. In such a system the nonabsorbing (dark) state, responsible for EIT, is created only for particular values of the relative radiation phase. This phase dependency is confirmed using three different methods of phase control. Additionally, the relative phase is set at defined values in order to adjust the medium to a fixed transmission behaviour.
Features of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in potassium vapors at the D 1 line of the 39 K isotope are studied. EIT resonances with a subnatural width of 3.5 MHz have been recorded upon excitation by two independent narrow-band diode lasers in a 1-cm-long cell filled with a natural mixture of potassium isotopes and buffer gas. The splitting of EIT resonances in potassium vapors in longitudinal and transverse magnetic fields has been studied for the first time. The splitted components also have a subnatural width. The smallness of the coupling factor of the hyperfine structure in 39 K atoms leads to a transition to the Paschen—Back regime at relatively weaker magnetic fields than in the case of Cs, Rb, and Na atoms. Practical applications of the phenomena under study are noted. The theoretical model well explains the experiment.