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arXiv:physics/0401011 · Physical Review A

Observation of large atomic-recoil-induced asymmetries in cold atom spectroscopy

Chris W. Oates, G. Wilpers, Leo W. Hollberg

Published Feb 10, 2005• 21 citations
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Abstract

The atomic-recoil effect leads to large (25%) asymmetries in a nearly ideal form of saturation spectroscopy based on Ca atoms that have been laser-cooled to . Starting with spectra from the more familiar Doppler-broadened domain, we show how the fundamental asymmetry between absorption and stimulated emission of light manifests itself when shorter spectroscopic pulses lead to the Fourier transform regime. These effects occur on frequency scales much larger than the size of the recoil shift itself, and have not been described before in saturation spectroscopy. These results directly impact precision spectroscopic measurements.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.71.023404

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The atomic-recoil effect leads to large (25%) asymmetries in a nearly ideal form of saturation spectroscopy based on Ca atoms that have been laser-cooled to . Starting with spectra from the more familiar Doppler-broadened domain, we show how the fundamental asymmetry between absorption and stimulated emission of light manifests itself when shorter spectroscopic pulses lead to the Fourier transform regime. These effects occur on frequency scales much larger than the size of the recoil shift itself, and have not been described before in saturation spectroscopy. These results directly impact precision spectroscopic measurements.
It is shown that, as a result of the atomic recoil associated with the absorption and emission of radiation, resonances can appear in nonlinear spectroscopy. The theory is illustrated by calculating the line shapes associated with nearly degenerate four-wave mixing and pump-probe spectroscopy when laser fields interact with an ensemble of two-level atoms. The recoil-induced resonances should be observable for atoms cooled below the Doppler limit of laser cooling, and the line shapes may provide a means for measuring the velocity distribution of these cooled atoms.
Summary form only given. Recent advances in laser cooling and trapping have led to a growing interest in laser spectroscopy in cold atomic samples. Examples include the work of Guo et al. and Courtois et al. about the recoil-induced resonance, and Bonifacio et al. and Moore et al. about the collective-atomic-recoil lasers (CARL). At the heart of these applications is the atomic recoil by photon absorption and emission. In the work, we explore a recoil-related phenomenon: hole burning resulting from the momentum redistribution of atoms by spontaneous emission, and its possible application in the precision spectroscopy. In the traditional saturation spectroscopy, the hole in the Doppler profile is created by laser excitation of atoms from the ground to the excited level. By contrast, the hole, is produced by removing the atoms in the velocity group, where the hole is burned, into the neighboring velocity groups of the same ground level. This process is accomplished through optical pumping and momentum redistribution by spontaneous emission. As a result, the requirement on the intensities of the driving laser fields is low, limited only by the interaction time. This is in contrast to the traditional saturation spectroscopy where the driving laser intensity has to be comparable to the saturation intensity determined by the decay rate of the excited level.
We calculate the weak probe field absorption spectrum for ultracold three-level atoms in a Raman gain configuration in the limit of the recoil shift exceeding the natural linewidth and the Doppler broadening. Our results show that even in the limit of very large recoil gain persists with its maximum shifted toward the red of the atomic line by the recoil energy, as is the spontaneous emission line. Some preliminary calculations suggest the possibility of a cw deep uv laser, based on cooled metastable helium atoms.
For pt.I see ibid., vol.7, p.1235 (1974). Uses the results of an earlier work to consider recoil effects on spectroscopic features observed with a saturable absorber. Systematic approximation schemes are presented, both the straightforward perturbation expansion in the field amplitudes and a non-perturbative approach, which neglects pulsations in the populations. This method generalizes the REA of recoil-free strong-signal theory and is expected to give good results for velocity-averaged observables. Its validity is discussed and the consequences are compared with those of other calculations. The results of numerical evaluations of spectra are shown, in particular the limit of poorly resolved recoil features is explored. Parameter regions where recoil-induced splittings and asymmetries occur are presented.
We report the first observation of the recoil shift of an optical resonance in the visible part of the spectrum. The method rests on the fact that the recoil shifts have opposite signs for Doppler-generated level crossings with a common upper level and for those having a common lower level. The experiment has been performed with the argon laser at 5145 \AA{} as the source and iodine as the absorber. The measured values are within 12% of the theoretical recoil shift. We give a detailed discussion of the possible influence of shifts of various origins and especially light shifts on the measured frequency differences. We display saturated absorption and saturated dispersion spectra and give formulas for the intensities of the various resonances derived from the corresponding density-matrix diagrams.
Theoretical calculations are presented for the probe absorption spectra of atoms having magnetically degenerate ground states which are subjected to weak pump fields that produce spatial polarization gradients. Apart from the Raman resonance contribution to the spectrum which has been observed experimentally, we predict that additional resonant structures should appear as a result of the atomic recoil that occurs during the absorption or emission of radiation by the atoms. The width of the atomic recoil resonances is directly related to the Doppler width associated with the driven transition. For sub-Doppler cooled atoms, the width can be much narrower than the optical pumping rate that determines the width of the Raman signal.