Saturable nonlinear refraction in hot atomic vapor (4 pages)

Tobias Scholz, Joachim Welzel, Wulfhard K. Lange

Colin F. McCormick, Daniel R. Solli, R. Y. Chiao +1 more

Atomic vapors make flexible and useful nonlinear optical media when light is detuned far from resonances. However, few direct measurements of their nonlinear coefficients have been performed to date. We present a measurement of the Kerr coefficient for various detunings to both the red and blue of the $D2$ line in hot atomic rubidium vapor. Saturation effects complicate the interpretation of the standard z-scan method, but a simple saturation model agrees well with our data. We find values of ${n}_{2}\ensuremath{\approx}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}7}{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}/\mathrm{W}$ for 1 GHz detunings from the $D2$ line.

Colin F. McCormick, Daniel R. Solli, R. Y. Chiao +1 more

We measured the Kerr coefficient near the D2 line in hot atomic rubidium vapor using z-scan. Saturation effects complicate the method. We test different saturation models to model our large detuning obtaining good theoretical agreement.

A. J. Palmer

C. Y. Ye, Alexander S. Zibrov, Yuri V. Rostovtsev +2 more

Colin F. McCormick, Daniel R. Solli, R. Y. Chiao +1 more

Using the z-scan technique, we have measured the self-induced absorptive and refractive nonlinear behavior of hot atomic rubidium vapor within the Doppler profile of the D2 line. We observe large nonlinear amplitude and phase effects with only tens of microwatts of incident power. Our results are in good agreement with numerical calculations based on an analytic model of a Doppler-broadened two-level system.