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Physical Review A

Development of a technique for the precise determination of atomic lifetimes based on photon echoes

Hermina C. Beica, Alexander Pouliot, Philip H. Dowling, Adam C. Carew, Thomas Vacheresse, Gehrig Carlse, L. Marmet, Anantharaman Kumarakrishnan

Published Mar 16, 2020• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We explore the sensitivity of the photon echo technique for achieving precise measurements of atomic lifetimes. Using short-pulse excitation of atomic rubidium vapor, we report the most statistically precise measurement of ($26.11\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.03$) ns for the $5^{2}{P}_{3/2}$ lifetime. This statistical uncertainty of 0.11% was achieved in a total data acquisition time of 4 h over several weeks and rivals the most precise measurements in this atomic system. The experiment primarily relies on heterodyne detection and exploits the signal-to-noise ratio of the coherent release of energy along the direction of excitation, which is an exponential decay as a function of pulse separation $T$, as well as large repetition rates that are feasible in a gently heated vapor cell. We have developed an understanding of the technical limitations responsible for lifetime measurement instabilities on the basis of a simple model, which also enables us to propose a feedback scheme to limit these effects. Studies of the fractional uncertainty of the lifetime suggest that the statistical precision of this technique can be extended to the level of 0.03% in 10 min of data acquisition if the technical limitations are addressed. This level of precision has so far been exceeded by only one other lifetime measurement. Under these conditions, a rigorous investigation of systematic effects could potentially allow the echo technique to achieve the most accurate measurement of atomic lifetimes.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.101.033408

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Physical Review A•Apr 1, 1998•95 citations
We explore the sensitivity of the photon echo technique for achieving precise measurements of atomic lifetimes. Using short-pulse excitation of atomic rubidium vapor, we report the most statistically precise measurement of (26.11\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi0.0326.11\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0326.11\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi0.03) ns for the 52P3/25^{2}{P}_{3/2}52P3/2​ lifetime. This statistical uncertainty of 0.11% was achieved in a total data acquisition time of 4 h over several weeks and rivals the most precise measurements in this atomic system. The experiment primarily relies on heterodyne detection and exploits the signal-to-noise ratio of the coherent release of energy along the direction of excitation, which is an exponential decay as a function of pulse separation TTT, as well as large repetition rates that are feasible in a gently heated vapor cell. We have developed an understanding of the technical limitations responsible for lifetime measurement instabilities on the basis of a simple model, which also enables us to propose a feedback scheme to limit these effects. Studies of the fractional uncertainty of the lifetime suggest that the statistical precision of this technique can be extended to the level of 0.03% in 10 min of data acquisition if the technical limitations are addressed. This level of precision has so far been exceeded by only one other lifetime measurement. Under these conditions, a rigorous investigation of systematic effects could potentially allow the echo technique to achieve the most accurate measurement of atomic lifetimes.
We report a measurement of the 5P3/2 excited-state lifetime using two-pulse photon echoes in Rb vapor. The measurement is precise to ∼1% and agrees with the best measurement of atomic lifetime in Rb. The results suggest that a measurement precise to ∼0.25% is possible through additional data acquisition and study of systematic effects. The experiment relies on short optical pulses generated from a cw laser using acousto-optic modulators. The excitation pulses are on resonance with the F=3-->F′=4 transition in Rb85 or the F=2-->F′=3 transition in Rb87. The resulting photon echo signal is detected using a heterodyne detection technique. The excited-state lifetime is determined by measuring the exponential decay of the echo intensity as a function of the time between the excitation pulses. We also present a study of the echo intensity as a function of excitation pulse area and compare the results to simulations based on optical Bloch equations. The simulations include the effects of spontaneous emission as well as spatial and temporal variations of the intensities of excitation pulses.
We present a lifetime measurement of the 6s6s6s level of rubidium. We use a time-correlated single-photon counting technique on two different samples of rubidium atoms, a vapor cell with variable rubidium density, and a sample of atoms confined and cooled in a magneto-optical trap. The 5P1∕25{P}_{1∕2}5P1∕2​ level serves as the resonant intermediate step for the two-step excitation to the 6s6s6s level. We detect the decay of the 6s6s6s level through the cascade fluorescence of the 5P3∕25{P}_{3∕2}5P3∕2​ level at 780 nm. The two samples have different systematic effects, but we obtain consistent results that averaged give a lifetime of $45.57\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.17\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{ns}$.
Echo atom interferometers have emerged as interesting alternatives to Raman interferometers for the realization of precise measurements of the gravitational acceleration g and the determination of the atomic fine structure through measurements of the atomic recoil frequency ω q . Here we review the development of different configurations of echo interferometers that are best suited to achieve these goals. We describe experiments that utilize near-resonant excitation of laser-cooled rubidium atoms by a sequence of standing wave pulses to measure ω q with a statistical uncertainty of 37 parts per billion (ppb) on a time scale of ∼50 ms and g with a statistical precision of 75 ppb. Related coherent transient techniques that have achieved the most statistically precise measurements of atomic g-factor ratios are also outlined. We discuss the reduction of prominent systematic effects in these experiments using off-resonant excitation by low-cost, high-power lasers.
We describe progress toward a precise measurement of the recoil energy of an atom measured using a modified grating-echo atom interferometer (AI) that involves three standing-wave (sw) pulses. With this technique, an additional sw pulse is used to shift the phase of excited momentum states, which produces a modulation in the contrast of the interference pattern. The signal exhibits narrow fringes that revive periodically at twice the two-photon recoil frequency, $2{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{q}$, as a function of the onset time of the pulse. Experiments are performed using samples of laser-cooled rubidium atoms with temperatures $\ensuremath{\lesssim}$5 $\ensuremath{\mu}$K in a nonmagnetic apparatus. We demonstrate a measurement of ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{q}$ with a statistical uncertainty of 37 parts per 109{10}^{9}109 (ppb) on a time scale of $\ensuremath{\sim}$45 ms in 14 h. Further statistical improvements are anticipated by extending this time scale and narrowing the signal fringe width. However, the total systematic uncertainty is estimated to be $\ensuremath{\sim}$6 parts per 106{10}^{6}106 (ppm). We describe methods of reducing these systematic errors.
We present a direct lifetime measurement of the 5s5p1P15s5p{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{1}{P}_{1}5s5p1P1​ state of strontium using time-correlated single-photon counting of laser-induced fluorescence in a hot atomic beam. To achieve fast switch-off times and a high signal-to-noise ratio, we excite the strontium atoms with a femtosecond pulsed laser at approximately 461 nm and collect the fluorescence onto a hybrid single-photon detector. Analysis of the measured exponential decay gives a lifetime of the 1P1{}^{1}{P}_{1}1P1​ state of $\ensuremath{\tau}=(5.216\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.{006}_{\text{stat}}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.{013}_{\text{sys}})$ ns, where all the systematic effects have been thoroughly considered.
We present lifetime measurements of the 7p2P3/2{7p}^{2}{P}_{3/2}7p2P3/2​ and 7p2P1/2{7p}^{2}{P}_{1/2}7p2P1/2​ levels of Fr. We use a time-correlated single-photon counting technique on a cold sample of 210Fr{}^{210}\mathrm{Fr}210Fr atoms in a magneto-optic trap. We excite the atoms with the trapping and repumping beams of the magneto-optic trap and detect the decay of the atomic fluorescence. The results are a precision experimental test of the atomic many-body perturbation theory applied to the heaviest alkali metal. The lifetime results are 21.02(11) ns and 29.45(11) ns for the 7p2P3/2{7p}^{2}{P}_{3/2}7p2P3/2​ and 7p2P1/2{7p}^{2}{P}_{1/2}7p2P1/2​ levels, respectively. This gives a line strength ratio S1/2{\mathcal{S}}_{1/2}S1/2​/S3/2{\mathcal{S}}_{3/2}S3/2​ of 0.526(3) for these levels in Fr. To study sources of systematic errors we measure the lifetimes of 5p2P3/2{5p}^{2}{P}_{3/2}5p2P3/2​ and 5p2P1/2{5p}^{2}{P}_{1/2}5p2P1/2​ in stable 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb and obtain 26.20(9) ns and 27.64(4) ns, respectively.