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Optics Express

Unidirectional Raman emission of Stokes photons from a circularly polarized transition of atoms in a chiral ring cavity

Haole Jiao, Minjie Wang, Mingyuan Chen, Jiajin Lu, Can Sun, Zhifang Yang, Mengqi Xi, Shujing Li, Shengzhi Wang, Hai Wang

Published Jul 16, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this study, we demonstrated unidirectional Raman emission from cold 87 Rb atoms with a ring cavity. A bias magnetic field B 0 is applied along the z direction to define the quantization axis. By transversely applying pumping laser pulses on a π-transition of the atoms, we generate spontaneous Raman emissions of Stokes photons from an individual circularly polarized ( σ + ) transition. The emissions are coupled into the running-wave cavity where two quarter-wave plates are inserted. We observed that the Stokes field is right-hand-circularly (left-hand-circularly) polarized when propagating along the z (–z) direction. The measured polarization extinction of the Stokes field escaped from the ring cavity is beyond 1400:1. A polarization interferometer is inserted in the cavity and the two orthogonal polarization modes are spatially split when propagating in the interferometer. By blocking one arm of the interferometer, we demonstrated a chiral cavity system with the atoms in the presence of the magnetic field. On this basis, we demonstrated unidirectional Raman emissions of Stokes photons in the ring cavity. The unidirectional factor reaches ∼99.8%.

DOI
10.1364/oe.567770

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In this study, we demonstrated unidirectional Raman emission from cold 87 Rb atoms with a ring cavity. A bias magnetic field B 0 is applied along the z direction to define the quantization axis. By transversely applying pumping laser pulses on a π-transition of the atoms, we generate spontaneous Raman emissions of Stokes photons from an individual circularly polarized ( σ + ) transition. The emissions are coupled into the running-wave cavity where two quarter-wave plates are inserted. We observed that the Stokes field is right-hand-circularly (left-hand-circularly) polarized when propagating along the z (–z) direction. The measured polarization extinction of the Stokes field escaped from the ring cavity is beyond 1400:1. A polarization interferometer is inserted in the cavity and the two orthogonal polarization modes are spatially split when propagating in the interferometer. By blocking one arm of the interferometer, we demonstrated a chiral cavity system with the atoms in the presence of the magnetic field. On this basis, we demonstrated unidirectional Raman emissions of Stokes photons in the ring cavity. The unidirectional factor reaches ∼99.8%.
The non-reciprocal (unidirectional) atom-photon couplings are crucial for modern photonics ranging from chiral quantum networks to cold-atom many-body physics. In the presented experiment, we demonstrated unidirectional Raman emission of Stokes photons from 87Rb atoms in a ring cavity. A bias magnetic field B0 is applied along z-direction on the atoms to define the quantum axis, which breaks the time inverse symmetry. By transversely applying write laser pulses to drive a π-transition of the atoms, we generate spontaneous Raman emissions of Stokes photons from a chiral (σ+) transition. The emissions are coupled into the clock-wise (z-direction) and counter-clock-wise (-z-direction) modes of a running-wave cavity, respectively. According to the mirror (parity) symmetry of the atom-light coupling, we demonstrated that spins (polarizations) of the Stokes fields are correlated with their propagation directions along z and -z -axis. The Stokes emissions constrained to the spin-momentum correlation are found to be violation of Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation. Based on the correlation, we demonstrated that the Stokes emissions propagate along the clock-wise or counter-clock-wise via polarization dissipation. The directional factor is up to 1500:1.
Abstract In the presented experiment, we demonstrated unidirectional Raman emission from 87Rb atoms in a ring cavity. A bias magnetic field B0 is applied along z-direction to define the quantum axis. By transversely applying write laser pulses to drive a π-transition of the atoms, we generate spontaneous Raman emissions of Stokes photons from a chiral (σ+) transition. The emissions are coupled into the clock-wise (z-direction) and counter-clock-wise modes (-z-direction) of a running-wave cavity, respectively. We reveal spin-momentum correlation in the Stokes emissions. The Stokes emissions constrained to the spin-momentum correlation are found to be a violation of the Kirchhoff’s law of thermal radiation. Thus, we demonstrated that the Stokes emissions can propagate along the clock-wise or counter-clock-wise mode via polarization dissipation based on the spin-momentum correlation. The directional factor is up to 1500:1.
The enhancement of atom-photon interactions with F-P cavities provides a suitable platform for studying quantum optics and atomic physics. However, the emission fields in linear F-P cavities are in the standing-wave mode, which leads to non-uniform atom-photon coupling and a short storage lifetime of cavity-enhanced spin-wave quantum storages. This study experimentally demonstrates traveling-wave atom-light interactions in an F-P cavity that can preserve light helicity. First, a bias magnetic field is applied along the z-axis to define the quantization axis, which lifts the Zeeman degeneracy and breaks the time reversal symmetry. Next, non-classically correlated pairs of Stokes photons and spin waves are produced based on the Duan-Lukin-Cirac-Zoller scheme. The Stokes photons initially emitted from a single circularly polarized atomic transition have left-and right-hand circular polarizations when propagating along the +z (forward) and -z (backward) directions, which are preserved in the chiral cavity within the atom-photon interaction region. Thus, when the forward and backward Stokes fields resonate with the cavity, they may interact with the atoms in a traveling-wave manner. This is confirmed by measuring the time-dependent retrieval efficiencies of spin waves correlated with the forward and backward Stokes fields. This work paves the way for demonstrating traveling-wave atom-photon interactions in F-P cavities.
Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in ultracold atoms is engineered by light-atom interaction, such as two-photon Raman transitions between two Zeeman spin states. In this paper, we propose and experimentally realize chiral Raman coupling to generate SOC in ultracold atomic gases, which exhibits high quantization axis direction dependence. Chiral Raman coupling for SOC is created by chiral light-atom interaction, in which a circularly polarized electromagnetic field generated by two Raman lasers interacts with two Zeeman spin states $\ensuremath{\delta}{m}_{F}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1$ (chiral transition). We present a simple scheme of chiral one-dimensional (1D) Raman coupling by employing two Raman lasers at an intersecting angle ${90}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ with the proper polarization configuration. In this case, Raman coupling for SOC exists in one direction of the magnetic quantization axis and disappears in the opposite direction. Then we extend this scheme into a chiral two-dimensional (2D) optical square Raman lattice configuration to generate the 1D SOC. There are two orthogonal 1D SOCs, which exist in the positive and negative directions of the magnetic quantization axis respectively. This case is compared with 2D SOC based on the nonchiral 2D optical Raman lattice scheme for studying the topological energy band. This paper broadens the horizon for understanding chiral physics and simulating topological quantum systems.
We propose a scheme of heralded storages of single photons via spontaneous Raman scattering (SRS) enhanced by a chiral standing-wave cavity, which creates a non-classically correlated pair of a spin wave and a Stokes photon (heralded photon) when a single-photon “write” pulse is applied to an atomic ensemble. In this scheme, to decrease the power of the write pulse for SRS, the write laser and the Stokes fields are aligned to propagate near-collinearly through the atoms. The short storage lifetime remains a challenge in standing-wave cavity-enhanced SRS. To prolong the storage lifetime, we achieve a long-wavelength spin-wave memory by removing the backward-scattering Stokes field from the cavity, which is realized by using non-reciprocal couplings between the Stokes fields and the atoms. In the experiment, the memory lifetime is demonstrated up to ∼100 μs, which is beyond the limitation (∼350 ns) of the storage in the atomic ensembles coupled to standing-wave cavities. We achieve a spin-wave memory for the write pulse containing a mean photon number of ∼4. The quantum correlation of the Stokes-spin-wave pairs is beyond 2, which gives strong evidence of non-classical behavior.
Polarization, an intrinsic ingredient of photon, plays a critical role in its interaction with matter. A general polarization state can be an appropriate superposition of two basic polarization states, say, the vertical and horizontal linear state. Here we study spontaneous emission of a V-type three-level atom(with two upper states close in energy level)strongly coupled with a single-mode damped optical cavity. By defining a general polarization state of atom as a specific superposition of the two upper quantum states, we can prepare atoms with linear polarization at arbitrary direction, left and right circular polarization, and left and right elliptical polarization, similar to photons. We find that the spontaneous emission of light from these polarized three-level atoms shows very different profiles of side and axis spectra. This means that the polarization state of three-level atoms can become an active ingredient to manipulate its interaction with light and control the quantum interference effect. Exploitation of the coherent superposition and interference of quantum states inpolarized atoms would allow one to deeply explore new frontiers of light–matter interaction.