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Applied Optics

Experimental study on transit time broadening in rubidium 5S-5D excitation

Vinay Shukla, Ayan Ray

Published May 5, 2022• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

In this experimental work, we report our findings about a transition between states of even parity 5S1/2→5D5/2 of Rb atoms under different conditions of transit time broadening. For this purpose, the blue fluorescence emanating from the associated decay 5D5/2→6P3/2→5S1/2 channel is monitored. Based on the relative magnification of the laser beam, which is used in excitation between levels of even parity, the system exhibits two photon absorption (TPA) through blue fluorescence peaks. The TPA profile appears as a Lorentzian peak on a Doppler background. The change in the laser beam diameter directly influences the relative contributions of Lorentzian and Doppler parts. A direct inference drawn from of this study may be utilized in optimizing the extraction of the first derivative spectrum corresponding to 5S→5D transitions.

DOI
10.1364/ao.455563

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Physical Review A•Apr 5, 2023•10 citations
In this experimental work, we report our findings about a transition between states of even parity 5S1/2→5D5/2 of Rb atoms under different conditions of transit time broadening. For this purpose, the blue fluorescence emanating from the associated decay 5D5/2→6P3/2→5S1/2 channel is monitored. Based on the relative magnification of the laser beam, which is used in excitation between levels of even parity, the system exhibits two photon absorption (TPA) through blue fluorescence peaks. The TPA profile appears as a Lorentzian peak on a Doppler background. The change in the laser beam diameter directly influences the relative contributions of Lorentzian and Doppler parts. A direct inference drawn from of this study may be utilized in optimizing the extraction of the first derivative spectrum corresponding to 5S→5D transitions.
We studied non-resonant two photon absorption (NRTPA) 5S1/2→5D5/2 of hot Rb atom using a laser emitting at 778nm. The decay channel 5D5/2→6P3/2→5S1/2 is monitored to record the blue fluorescence. Two important aspects of blue fluorescence are explored: (i) photon number statistics under counter-propagating beam geometry, (ii) extraction of a workable discriminator signal by using modulation transfer for offset locking. The blue photon statistics histogram closely follows super–Poissonian distribution revealing the partially coherent or chaotic character under the limit of large photon counts. On the other hand modulation amplitude vs. peak height of 1-st derivative signal reveals that too small or too large modulation is detrimental for extracting discriminator signal. Under weak modulation, the offset stabilized laser attains square root of Allan variance σ(τ) ∼ 1.5 × 10−10 at integration time τ>10s. We propose generation of an offset stabilized chaotic blue light source by coupling (i) and (ii).
An ongoing spectroscopic investigation of atomic rubidium utilizes a two-photon, single-laser excitation process. Transitions accessible with our tunable laser include 5P1/2 (F ′ ) ← 5S1/2 (F) and 5P3/2 (F ′ ) ← 5S1/2 (F). The laser is split into a pump and probe beam to allow for Doppler-free measurements of transitions between hyperfine levels. The pump and probe beams are overlapped in a counter-propagating geometry and the laser frequency scans over a transition. Absorption, fluorescence and polarization spectroscopy techniques are applied to this basic experimental setup. The temperature of the vapor cell and the power of the pump and probe beams have been varied to explore line broadening effects and signal-to-noise of each technique. This humble setup will hopefully grow into a more robust experimental arrangement in which double resonance, two-laser excitations are used to explore hyperfine state changing collisions between rubidium atoms and noble gas atoms. Rb-noble gas collisions can transfer population between hyperfine levels, such as 5P3/2 (F ′ = 3) Collision ←− 5P3/2 (F ′ = 2), and the probe beam couples 7S1/2 (F ′′ = 2) ← 5P3/2 (F ′ = 3). Polarization spectroscopy signal depends on the rate of population transfer due to the collision as well as maintaining the orientation created by the pump laser. Fluorescence spectroscopy relies only on transfer of population due to the collision. Comparison of these techniques yields information regarding the change of the magnetic sublevels, mF , during hyperfine state changing collisions.
Abstract : The Doppler-broadened two-photon absorption (TPA) cross-section for the 52S1/2- 52D5/2 transition in Rb is measured using direct absorption methods. A detailed model of the intensity profile was developed to account for a focused Gaussian beam propagating through a two-photon absorption medium. A peak absorbance of 24% was observed for an intensity of 6.28 kW/cm2 at the focus, a Rb density of 4.6 x 1015 cm-3 concentrations from 1.61-8.52 x 10(15) cm-3 line. Extracting the hyperfine-broadened TPA cross-section from 87 test configurations, while varying the pump power, alkali concentration and focal length, yielded an error weighted average of 6.75x10-21 cm4/W. This cross-section is sufficient for a pulsed dye laser to bleach the pump transition in the Two-Photon Pumped Alkali Laser (TPAL) that lases at 420 nm and 5.2 mum. Additionally, optically pumped atomic rubidium lasers pumped in the blue satellite of the D2 line from the ground Rb-Ar or Rb-Kr collision pair to the dissociative B2 sum 1/2 produce laser emission at 780.2 nm. Lasing is achieved for the Rb-Ar system and 757.1 - 760.4 nm for the Rb-Kr system. Slope efficiencies exceed 0.25% using a heat pipe configuration. The gain is very high with photon build-up times of 1-3.7 ns.
In this work, we address the issue of the suitability of blue fluorescent light as a frequency offset reference during the ladder-level excitation 5S1/2→5P3/2→5D3/2 of Rb85 atoms. A simple pump–probe spectroscopy experiment is performed to generate non-degenerate blue light emission produced by the spontaneous decay route 5D3/2→6P3/2→5S1/2. By varying the relative intensity of the pump–probe combination, we can hover between regimes dominated by mechanisms such as double resonance optical pumping (DROP) and Autler–Townes splitting. The efficacy of the blue fluorescence (420 nm) as a frequency offset reference is pronounced under the DROP regime due to its narrow (∼natural) linewidth. To provide further insight into the stability performance, the pump laser connecting the 5P3/2→5D3/2 transition is stabilized to the peak of the blue light with the help of a probe stabilized to the saturation absorption signal of the 5S1/2→5P3/2 transition. For this purpose, we used the coherence-induced modulation transfer technique. The error frequency noise power spectra and the subsequent Allan variance calculation clearly show that probe fluctuations are transferred to the pump laser because of an existing two-photon coherent coupling.
In this paper, we describe two complementary nonlinear spectroscopy methods which both allow one to achieve Doppler-free spectra of atomic gases. First, saturated absorption spectroscopy is used to investigate the structure of the 5S 1/2 → 5P 3/2 transition in rubidium. Using a slightly modified experimental setup, Doppler-free two-photon absorption spectroscopy is then performed on the 5S 1/2 → 5D 5/2 transition in rubidium, leading to accurate measurements of the hyperfine structure of the 5D 5/2 energy level. In addition, electric dipole selection rules of the two-photon transition are investigated, first by modifying the polarization of the excitation laser, and then by measuring two-photon absorption spectra when a magnetic field is applied close to the rubidium vapour. All experiments are performed with the same grating-feedback laser diode, providing an opportunity to compare different high-resolution spectroscopy methods using a single experimental setup. Such experiments may acquaint students with quantum mechanics selection rules, atomic spectra and Zeeman effect.
The rubidium $5S\text{\ensuremath{-}}5D$ Doppler-free two-photon transition has been observed in a thermal vapor cell by detecting the infrared radiation emitted during the decay from the 5D5D5D excited level to the 5P5P5P intermediate level. Different to the usual detection scheme based on blue light emission this approach does not suffer from reabsorption and still works at high densities. This not only allows for a dramatically enhanced detectable emission rate but also for investigating collisional effects such as collisional broadening and collisional energy transfer. Furthermore, we observe a yet unknown temperature dependence of the resonance linewidth for transitions into the states of the 5D5/25{D}_{\text{5/2}}5D5/2​ level. Consequences for the design of an optical Rb-frequency standard are discussed.