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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Photon locking

Edward T. Sleva, Isaac M. Xavier, Ahmed H. Zewail

Published Apr 1, 1986• 39 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A novel observation of photon locking—the optical analog of spin locking—is reported, demonstrating the applicability of phase-coherent pulse sequences. The experiments are reported for the optical transition of iodine gas at 589.7 nm using the pulse sequence XYX–XY X¯. Locking decay rates are presented as a function of pressure and compared with optical dephasing (echo-decay) rates.

DOI
10.1364/josab.3.000483

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A novel observation of photon locking—the optical analog of spin locking—is reported, demonstrating the applicability of phase-coherent pulse sequences. The experiments are reported for the optical transition of iodine gas at 589.7 nm using the pulse sequence XYX–XY X¯. Locking decay rates are presented as a function of pressure and compared with optical dephasing (echo-decay) rates.
In this paper we consider the coherences that are produced in a photon (or spin) locking experiment involving a molecular \ntwo-level system. New coherences, not anticipated from the Feynman-Vernon-Hellwarth representation, are predicted if \nthe transition is inhomogeneously broadened. The influence of duration, power, and phase of the driving and probe pulses \nin the locking experiment on the shape of the simulated echo responses is discussed in detail, and a comparison with experiments \nis made.
Using on-demand coherence conversion via optical locking, a dynamic coherent control of the collective atom phase has been demonstrated for longer photon storage beyond the critical constraint of spin phase decay time, where the storage time can be extended up to hours in a rare-earth-doped solid. Coherent transient phenomena such as photon echoes have been investigated for frozen phase decay via coherent population transfer using a simple deshelving optical pulse pair. Unlike the rephasing halt applied to two-pulse photon echoes, where optical decoherence is accelerated by spin inhomogeneous broadening, a completely atom phase-locked coherence conversion has been observed in three-pulse photon echoes, resulting in spin dephasing-free coherence control. Here, the mechanism of the atom phase-locked coherence conversion via optical locking has been investigated in a solid medium whose optical transition is imperfect, where partial coherence is lost via optical depth-dependent imperfect population transfer. The relationship between coherence loss and optical depth is analyzed, where nearly perfect photon echo efficiency can be obtained for ultralong photon storage in an optically thick medium.
Quantum coherence control of two-pulse photon echoes has been demonstrated for a rephasing halt, resulting in storage-time extension using atom phase-controlled optical deshelving (optical locking) in a backward propagation scheme for the additional benefit of echo intensity enhancement. Compared with conventional forward two-pulse photon echoes, the backward two-pulse photon echo efficiency is enhanced by 15-fold even in a dilute sample, and the storage time is lengthened by spin dephasing time accelerated by spin inhomogeneous broadening. The mechanism of delayed photon echoes via optical locking is due to the temporal hold of the rephasing process by coherent population transfer to a robust spin state.
We observed the optical nutation echoes, i.e., the optical analog of rotary-spin echoes, in ruby. The experiment was carried out using a Stark switching technique. The inversion of the effective field in the rotating frame was achieved by applying a small short Stark pulse (phase-shifting pulse) whose amplitude ΔE and width Δt satisfy the condition that Δω·Δt is equal to an odd multiple of π where Δω is the frequency offset produced by ΔE. A train of nutation echoes was also observed by applying successive phase-shifting pulses. The observed nutation-echo-envelope decay time was 12 µs which is nearly equal to 2T 2 consistent with the theoretical prediction. Radiation-locking and radiation-locked echo experiments were also performed by using similar phase-shifting techniques.