No Arabic abstract
We present the results of an experimental as well as theoretical study of nonlinear magneto-optical resonances in diatomic potassium molecules in the electronic ground state with large values of the angular momentum quantum number J~100. At zero magnetic field, the absorption transitions are suppressed because of population trapping in the ground state due to Zeeman coherences between magnetic sublevels of this state along with depopulation pumping. The destruction of such coherences in an external magnetic field was used to study the resonances in this work. K2 molecules were formed in a glass cell filled with potassium metal at a temperature above 150C. The cell was placed in an oven and was located in a homogeneous magnetic field B, which was scanned from zero to 0.7 T. Q-type and R-type transitions were excited with a tunable, single-mode diode laser with central wavelength of 660 nm. Well pronounced nonlinear Hanle effect signals were observed in the intensities of the linearly polarized components of the laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detected in the direction parallel to the (B)-field with polarization vectors parallel (I_par) and perpendicular (I_per) to the polarization vector of the exciting laser radiation, which was orthogonal to (B). The intensities of the LIF components were detected for different experimental parameters, such as laser power density and vapor temperature, in order to compare them with numerical simulations that were based on the optical Bloch equations for the density matrix. We report good agreement of our measurements with numerical simulations. Narrow, subnatural line width dark resonances in I_per(B) were detected and explained.
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 present a theoretical model describing recently observed collective effects in large magneto-optically trapped atomic ensembles. Based on a kinetic description we develop an efficient test particle method, which in addition to the single atom light pressure accounts for other relevant effects such as laser attenuation and forces due to multiply scattered light with position dependent absorption cross sections. Our calculations confirm the existence of a dynamical instability and provide deeper insights into the observed system dynamics.
We present the properties of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) of CaF molecules. We study the process of loading the MOT from a decelerated buffer-gas-cooled beam, and how best to slow this molecular beam in order to capture the most molecules. We determine how the number of molecules, the photon scattering rate, the oscillation frequency, damping constant, temperature, cloud size and lifetime depend on the key parameters of the MOT, especially the intensity and detuning of the main cooling laser. We compare our results to analytical and numerical models, to the properties of standard atomic MOTs, and to MOTs of SrF molecules. We load up to $2 times 10^4$ molecules, and measure a maximum scattering rate of $2.5 times 10^6$ s$^{-1}$ per molecule, a maximum oscillation frequency of 100 Hz, a maximum damping constant of 500 s$^{-1}$, and a minimum MOT rms radius of 1.5 mm. A minimum temperature of 730 $mu$K is obtained by ramping down the laser intensity to low values. The lifetime, typically about 100 ms, is consistent with a leak out of the cooling cycle with a branching ratio of about $6 times 10^{-6}$. The MOT has a capture velocity of about 11 m/s.
We demonstrate a continuously loaded $^{88}mathrm{Sr}$ magneto-optical trap (MOT) with a steady-state phase-space density of $1.3(2) times 10^{-3}$. This is two orders of magnitude higher than reported in previous steady-state MOTs. Our approach is to flow atoms through a series of spatially separated laser cooling stages before capturing them in a MOT operated on the 7.4-kHz linewidth Sr intercombination line using a hybrid slower+MOT configuration. We also demonstrate producing a Bose-Einstein condensate at the MOT location, despite the presence of laser cooling light on resonance with the 30-MHz linewidth transition used to initially slow atoms in a separate chamber. Our steady-state high phase-space density MOT is an excellent starting point for a continuous atom laser and dead-time free atom interferometers or clocks.
Nonlinear magneto-optical (NMO) resonances occurring for near-zero magnetic field are studied in Rb vapor using light-noise spectroscopy. With a balanced detection polarimeter, we observe high contrast variations of the noise power (at fixed analysis frequency) carried by diode laser light resonant with the 5S$_{1/2}(F=2) to 5$P$_{1/2}(F=1) $ transition of $^{87}$Rb and transmitted through a rubidium vapor cell, as a function of magnetic field $B$. A symmetric resonance doublet of anti-correlated noise is observed for orthogonal polarizations around $B=0 $ as a manifestation of ground state coherence. We also observe sideband noise resonances when the magnetic field produces an atomic Larmor precession at a frequency corresponding to one half of the analysis frequency. The resonances on the light fluctuations are the consequence of phase to amplitude noise conversion owing to nonlinear coherence effects in the response of the atomic medium to the fluctuating field. A theoretical model (derived from linearized Bloch equations) is presented that reproduces the main qualitative features of the experimental signals under simple assumptions.