No Arabic abstract
Saturation effects affecting absorption and fluorescence spectra of an atomic vapor confined in an Extremely Thin Cell (cell thickness $L < 1 mu m$) are investigated experimentally and theoretically. The study is performed on the $D_{2}$ line ($lambda ~= ~852 nm)$ of $Cs$ and concentrates on the two situations $L = lambda /2$ and $L =lambda$, the most contrasted ones with respect to the length dependence of the coherent Dicke narrowing. For $L = lambda /2$, the Dicke-narrowed absorption profile simply broadens and saturates in amplitude when increasing the light intensity, while for $L =lambda$, sub-Doppler dips of reduced absorption at line-center appear on the broad absorption profile. For a fluorescence detection at $L =lambda$, saturation induces narrow dips, but only for hyperfine components undergoing a population loss through optical pumping. These experimental results are interpreted with the help of the various existing models, and are compared with numerical calculations based upon a two-level modelling that considers both a closed and an open system.
Experimental and theoretical studies are presented related to the ground-state magneto-optical resonance prepared in Cesium vapour confined in an Extremely Thin Cell (ETC, with thickness equal to the wavelength of the irradiating light). It is shown that the utilization of the ETC allows one to examine the formation of a magneto-optical resonance on the individual hyperfine transitions, thus distinguishing processes resulting in dark (reduced absorption) or bright (enhanced absorption) resonance formation. We report on an experimental evidence of the bright magneto-optical resonance sign reversal in Cs atoms confined in the ETC. A theoretical model is proposed based on the optical Bloch equations that involves the elastic interaction processes of atoms in the ETC with its walls resulting in depolarization of the Cs excited state which is polarized by the exciting radiation. This depolarization leads to the sign reversal of the bright resonance. Using the proposed model, the magneto-optical resonance amplitude and width as a function of laser power are calculated and compared with the experimental ones. The numerical results are in good agreement with the experiment.
We have measured magneto-optical signals obtained by exciting the $D_1$ line of cesium atoms confined to an extremely thin cell (ETC), whose walls are separated by less than one micrometer, and developed an improved theoretical model to describe these signals with experimental precision. The theoretical model was based on the optical Bloch equations and included all neighboring hyperfine transitions, the mixing of the magnetic sublevels in an external magnetic field, and the Doppler effect, as in previous studies. However, in order to model the extreme conditions in the ETC more realistically, the model was extended to include a unified treatment of transit relaxation and wall collisions with relaxation rates that were obtained directly from the thermal velocities of the atoms and the length scales involved. Furthermore, the interaction of the atoms with different regions of the laser beam were modeled separately to account for the varying laser beam intensity over the beam profile as well as saturation effects that become important near the center of the beam at the relatively high laser intensities used during the experiments in order to obtain measurable signals. The model described the experimentally measured signals for laser intensities for magnetic fields up to 55~G and laser intensities up to 1~W/cm$^2$ with excellent agreement.
The sub-natural-width $N$-type resonance in {Lambda}-system, on the $D_2$ line of Cs atoms is studied for the first time in the presence of a buffer gas (neon) and the radiations of two continuous narrow band diode lasers. $L$ = 1 cm long cell is used to investigate $N$-type process. The $N$-type resonance in a magnetic field for $^{133}$Cs atoms is shown to split into seven or eight components, depending on the magnetic field and laser radiation directions. The results obtained indicate that levels $F_g$ = 3, 4 are initial and final in the N resonance formation. The experimental results with magnetic field agree well with the theoretical curves.
Nonlinear magneto-optical resonances have been measured in an extremely thin cell (ETC) for the D1 transition of rubidium in an atomic vapor of natural isotopic composition. All hyperfine transitions of both isotopes have been studied for a wide range of laser power densities, laser detunings, and ETC wall separations. Dark resonances in the laser induced fluorescence (LIF) were observed as expected when the ground state total angular momentum F_g was greater than or equal to the excited state total angular momentum F_e. Unlike the case of ordinary cells, the width and contrast of dark resonances formed in the ETC dramatically depended on the detuning of the laser from the exact atomic transition. A theoretical model based on the optical Bloch equations was applied to calculate the shapes of the resonance curves. The model averaged over the contributions from different atomic velocity groups, considered all neighboring hyperfine transitions, took into account the splitting and mixing of magnetic sublevels in an external magnetic field, and included a detailed treatment of the coherence properties of the laser radiation. Such a theoretical approach had successfully described nonlinear magneto-optical resonances in ordinary vapor cells. Although the values of certain model parameters in the ETC differed significantly from the case of ordinary cells, the same physical processes were used to model both cases. However, to describe the resonances in the ETC, key parameters such as the transit relaxation rate and Doppler width had to be modified in accordance with the ETCs unique features. Agreement between the measured and calculated resonance curves was satisfactory for the ETC, though not as good as in the case of ordinary cells.
We study $Lambda$-type Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) on the Rb D2 transition in a buffer-gas-free thermal vapor cell without anti-relaxation coating. Experimental data show distinguished features of velocity-selective optical pumping and one EIT resonance. The Zeeman splitting of the EIT line in magnetic fields up to 12 Gauss is investigated. One Zeeman component is free of the first-order shift and its second-order shift agrees well with theory. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of this magnetic-field-insensitive EIT resonance is reduced due to Doppler narrowing, scales linearly in Rabi frequency over the range studied, and reaches about 100~kHz at the lowest powers. These observations agree with an analytic model for a Doppler-broadened medium developed in Ref. cite{PhysRevA.66.013805,7653385}. Numerical simulation using the Lindblad equation reveals that the transverse laser intensity distribution and two $Lambda$-EIT systems must be included to fully account for the measured line width and line shape of the signals. Ground-state decoherence, caused by effects that include residual optical frequency fluctuations, atom-wall and trace-gas collisions, is discussed.