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Physical Review A

Faraday rotation and ellipticity spectroscopy between excited states of Rb vapor: Theory and experiment

Chenxu Liu, Yalong Hai, Anhong Dang

Published May 10, 2023• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The Faraday rotation and ellipticity spectra of rubidium $5{P}_{3/2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}4{D}_{5/2}$ transition in a magnetic field have been calculated and experimentally measured. By using the rotating quarter-wave plate method, the Stokes parameters of the $5{P}_{3/2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}4{D}_{5/2}$ near-resonant probe light are measured to obtain the Faraday rotation and the ellipticity. The variation of the rotation and the ellipticity spectra is analyzed in different magnetic fields, temperatures, and pump powers. The polarization rotation over 50 deg in 1529 nm with negligible elliptical distortion is obtained. Our study of the Faraday effect between excited states of atoms broadens the available wavelength of the Faraday effect in applications.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.107.053105

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The Faraday rotation and ellipticity spectra of rubidium 5P3/2\ensuremath→4D5/25{P}_{3/2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}4{D}_{5/2}5P3/2​\ensuremath→4D5/2​ transition in a magnetic field have been calculated and experimentally measured. By using the rotating quarter-wave plate method, the Stokes parameters of the 5P3/2\ensuremath→4D5/25{P}_{3/2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}4{D}_{5/2}5P3/2​\ensuremath→4D5/2​ near-resonant probe light are measured to obtain the Faraday rotation and the ellipticity. The variation of the rotation and the ellipticity spectra is analyzed in different magnetic fields, temperatures, and pump powers. The polarization rotation over 50 deg in 1529 nm with negligible elliptical distortion is obtained. Our study of the Faraday effect between excited states of atoms broadens the available wavelength of the Faraday effect in applications.
Faraday polarization rotation control of 1529 nm wavelength has been obtained using the 5S1/2→5P3/2→4D5/2 transition of rubidium. The traditional off-resonant polarization rotation method commonly used in the Faraday effect for direct transitions of atoms is not applicable to the transitions between excited states. In this study, we proposed a near-resonant polarization rotation method using the Faraday effect between excited states of atoms, by which the polarization rotation of the rubidium 5P3/2→4D5/2 transition can be controlled from 0° to 90° with low distortion. The 780 nm pump light corresponding to the 5S1/2→5P3/2 transition can also be used simultaneously as a control source to manipulate the polarization state of the 1529 nm optical signal.
We present an experimental and theoretical study of self-rotation of optical polarization in a rubidium vapor.The atomic vapor is placed in a magnetic shielding cavity to suppress the Faraday rotation effect.In our experiment, Doppler-free spectroscopy configuration is used, and F = 2 → F = 3 transition of 87 Rb D2 line is chosen.We observe self-rotation of optical polarization effect at different pump light ellipticities.A theoretical analysis is then provided based on the experimental conditions.Theoretical simulation and experimental results are in good agreement.
Optically pumped alkali metal atoms currently provide a sensitive solution for magnetic microscopic measurements. As the most practicable plan, Faraday rotation of linearly polarized light is extensively used in spin polarization measurements of alkali metal atoms. In some cases, near-resonant Faraday rotation is applied to improve the sensitivity. However, the near-resonant linearly polarized probe light is elliptically polarized after passing through optically pumped alkali metal vapor. The ellipticity of transmitted near-resonant probe light is numerically calculated and experimentally measured. In addition, we also analyze the negative impact of elliptical polarization on Faraday rotation measurements. From our theoretical estimate and experimental results, the elliptical polarization forms an inevitable error in spin polarization measurements.
Large Faraday rotations can be generated by circular birefringence of atomic samples in an axial magnetic field in the vicinity of atomic resonance lines. More generally, magneto-optical effects in atomic samples include circular dichroism in addition to birefringence, resulting in a modification of the ellipticity as well as the polarization alignment. Usually such effects are investigated for homogeneous linear polarizations, but the mechanisms apply also to polarization structures such as vector vortices. We investigate the effect of optical activity of a rubidium vapor in the hyperfine Paschen–Back regime along the D2 line, for the example of azimuthally polarized input light. We show that for low atomic densities, circular birefringence dominates over dichroism, and azimuthal polarization is rotated toward radial polarization. The rotation angle increases with increasing optical densities. At high vapor temperatures, dichroism becomes more and more relevant, leading to intricate variations of both alignment and ellipticity. Our results shine new light on the interplay between different magneto-optic effects at strong magnetic fields. Their highly sensitive response to detuning may find applications in spectroscopy and quantum sensing.
We report on experimental and theoretical study of the nonlinear Faraday effect under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency at the $5{S}_{1/2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}5{P}_{3/2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}5{D}_{5/2}$ two-photon transition in rubidium vapor. These transitions realize the inverted YYY model which combines the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ and ladder systems. Strong nonlinearity allowing for large rotation angles of a probe beam tuned to the $S\ensuremath{\rightarrow}P$ transition was obtained by creation of quantum superpositions of magnetic sublevels (Zeeman coherences) in the rubidium ground state ($\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ scheme). Additionally, electromagnetically induced transparency was accomplished in a ladder scheme by acting with a second strong coupling laser on the $P\ensuremath{\rightarrow}D$ transition. Under conditions of a two-photon resonance the rotation was significantly reduced, which is interpreted as a competition between the coherent processes. The effect was observed in sub-Gauss magnetic fields and could be used for efficient coherent control of generation of the ground-state coherences, e.g., for controlling the polarization state of the probe light.