We investigate the propagation of ultra-short laser pulses in atomic rubidium vapor. The pulses are intensive enough to ionize the atoms and are directly resonant with the 780 nm $D_2$ line. We derive a relatively simple theory for computing the nonlinear optical response of atoms and investigate the competing effects of strong resonant nonlinearity and ionization in the medium using computer simulations. A nonlinear self-channeling of pulse energy is found to produce a continuous plasma channel with complete ionization. We evaluate the length, width and homogeneity of the resulting plasma channel for various values of pulse energy and initial focusing to identify regimes optimal for applications in plasma-wave accelerator devices such as that being built by the AWAKE collaboration at CERN. Similarities and differences with laser pulse filamentation in atmospheric gases are discussed.
Self-focusing of a cw laser beam in rubidium atomic vapor was studied. The beam power and beam spot size at entrance of a glass cell with the rubidium vapor were variable parameters. A steep grow of the threshold power of self-focusing for the small beam radii (< 30 μm) was observed. Our experimental data are in an agreement with the theoretical results published by Semak and Shneider in 2013. Additional experiments in resonance and transparent media are suggested in order to check and extend our measurements.
We have studied modification of the fluorescence spectra of a room-temperature atomic rubidium vapor in the region of $^{85}$Rb and $^{87}$Rb D$_2$ line while changing the temporal rate of linear (triangular) scanning of laser radiation frequency. Increase of the ramping speed over certain value ($\approx$ 10$^6$ MHz/s) results in essential modification of magnitudes of individual atomic transitions, different on rising and falling slopes, which characterize transition from a steady-state interaction regime to a transient one. Our experimental results are well consistent with the developed the…
How to measure diffusional decoherence in multimode rubidium vapor memories?
扩散是热原子蒸气在空间多模式应用中存储时间的主要限制。系统中扩散退相干的精确知识对于设计大多数蒸气存储器设置是期望的。在这里，我们提出了一种新的，有效的和直接的方法来测量无偏扩散退相干，清楚地区别于所有其他的退相干源。我们得到了铷原子在惰性气体中的归一化扩散系数：氖0.20 cm $^{2}$ /s，氪0.068 cm $^{2}$ /s，并首次给出了铷在氙中的归一化扩散系数：0.057 cm $^{2}$ /s。我们的方法包括创建，存储和检索空间变化的原子相干性。拉曼散射提供了一个必要的界面，原子，允许探测许多空间周期性的原子相干性并发。与之前的实验相反，该方法可用于任何单个密封玻璃池，并且在测量期间不需要任何设置更改，因此它是鲁棒的和可重复的。
Non-degenerate four-wave mixing in rubidium vapor: transient regime
我们研究了金刚石结构中四波混频产生的光的瞬态响应。瞬变表现出快速的衰减时间和振荡，取决于失谐和强度的领域。一个考虑了原子热运动、传播、吸收和色散效应的简化模型与实验观测的铷原子能级（5S ~（1/2）、5 P ~（1/2）、5 P ~（3/2）和6S ~（1/2））定性一致。原子极化来自系综中不同速度类原子的所有贡献，极大地改变了四波混频光的总瞬态行为。
Compactness, robustness and autonomy of optical frequency references are prerequisites for reliable operation in mobile systems, on ground as well as in space. We present a standalone plug and play optical frequency reference device based on frequency modulation spectroscopy of the D2-transition in rubidium at 780 nm. After a single button press the hand-sized laser module, based on the micro-integrated laser-optical bench described in [J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 38, 1885-1891 (2021)], works fully autonomous and generates 6 mW of frequency stabilized light with a relative frequency instability of 1.4e…
Optical two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy (2DCS) has become a powerful tool for studying energy level structure, dynamics, and coupling in many systems including atomic ensembles. Various types of two-dimensional (2D) spectra, including the so-called single-quantum, zero-quantum, and double-quantum 2D spectra, of both D lines (D$_1$ and D$_2$ transitions) of potassium (K) atoms have been reported previously. For rubidium (Rb), a major difference is that the D-lines are about 15 nm apart as opposed to only about 3 nm for K. Simultaneously exciting both D-lines of Rb atoms requires a broader…
We experimentally investigate the optical storage of perfect optical vortex (POV) and spatially multimode perfect optical vortex (MPOV) beams via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a hot vapor cell. In particular, we study the role that phase gradients and phase singularities play in reducing the blurring of the retrieved images due to atomic diffusion. Three kinds of manifestations are enumerated to demonstrate such effect. Firstly, the suppression of the ring width broadening is more prominent for POVs with larger orbital angular momentum (OAM). Secondly, the retrieved double-…
We study the propagation of 0.05-1 TW power, ultrafast laser pulses in a 10 meter long rubidium vapor cell. The central wavelength of the laser is resonant with the $D_2$ line of rubidium and the peak intensity in the $10^{12}-10^{14} ~W/cm^2$ range, enough to create a plasma channel with single electron ionization. We observe the absorption of the laser pulse for low energy, a regime of transverse confinement of the laser beam by the strong resonant nonlinearity for higher energies and the transverse broadening of the output beam when the nonlinearity is saturated due to full medium ionizatio…
In a Ti:Sa laser with an absorbing with Rb vapor cell stable self-starting passive mode-locking is demonstrated. We show that the mode-locking appears due to self-induced transparency (SIT) in the Rb cell, that is, the pulse in the Rb cell is a 2pi SIT pulse. For the best of our knowledge, in these experiments we present the first time demonstration of SIT mode-locking in laser systems, which was discussed only theoretical before.
We report the fabrication of alkali-metal vapor cells using femtosecond laser machining. This laser-written vapor-cell (LWVC) technology allows arbitrarily-shaped 3D interior volumes and has potential for integration with photonic structures and optical components. We use non-evaporable getters both to dispense rubidium and to absorb buffer gas. This enables us to produce cells with sub-atmospheric buffer gas pressures without vacuum apparatus. We demonstrate sub-Doppler saturated absorption spectroscopy and single beam optical magnetometry with a single LWVC. The LWVC technology may find appl…
We study an integrated silicon photonic chip, composed of several sub-wavelength ridge waveguides, and immersed in a micro-cell with rubidium vapor. Employing two-photon excitation, including a telecom wavelength, we observe that the waveguide transmission spectrum gets modified when the photonic mode is coupled to rubidium atoms through its evanescent tail. Due to the enhanced electric field in the waveguide cladding, the atomic transition can be saturated at a photon number $\approx$ 80 times less than a free-propagating beam case. The non-linearity of the atom-clad Si-waveguide is about 4 o…
The effects of high pulse intensity and chirp on two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy signals are experimentally investigated in the highly non-perturbative regime using atomic rubidium vapor as clean model system. Data analysis is performed based on higher-order Feynman diagrams and non-perturbative numerical simulations of the system response. It is shown that higher-order contributions may lead to a fundamental change of the static appearance and beating-maps of the 2D spectra and that chirped pulses enhance or suppress distinct higher-order pathways. We further give an estimate of the t…
We report on an experiment in which the fluorescence decay time of 5P levels of Rb atoms in a coated vapor cell exceeds several of milliseconds, many orders of magnitude longer than normal decay time of excited of rubidium atoms. We found that this peculiarly long - term decay is not exponential and can only be observed in a high quality coated cell with a long lifetime of optical pumped atoms on atomic ground-state sublevels. A numerical simulation based on a complete density matrix is presented. It supports the population pumping process through the ground-state sublevels of Rb atoms as the …
We report on an experimental test of the spin selection rule for two-photon transitions in atoms. In particular, we demonstrate that the $5S_{1/2}\to 6S_{1/2}$ transition rate in a rubidium gas follows a quadratic dependency on the helicity parameter linked to the polarization of the excitation light. For excitation via a single Gaussian beam or two counterpropagating beams in a hot vapor cell, the transition rate scales as the squared degree of linear polarization. The rate reaches zero when the light is circularly polarized. In contrast, when the excitation is realized via an evanescent fiel…
We experimentally demonstrate hyperfine optical pumping of rubidium atoms probed by an evanescent electromagnetic field at a dielectric-vapor interface. This light-atom interaction at the nanoscale is investigated using a right angle prism integrated with a vapor cell and excited by evanescent wave under total internal reflection. An efficient hyperfine optical pumping, leading to a complete suppression of absorption on the probed evanescent signal, is observed when a pump laser beam is sent at normal incidence to the interface. In contrast, when the pump and probe beams are co-propagating in …
Enabling atom-clad waveguide operation in a microfabricated alkali vapor-photonic integrated circuit
Joint Quantum Institute, NIST/University of Maryland（联合量子研究所，NIST/马里兰大学）；National Institute of Standards and Technology（美国国家标准与技术研究院）；University of Colorado Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校）
