Resolution of photon-recoil structure of the 6573-Å calcium line in an atomic beam with optical Ramsey fringes

Barger, R. L.; Bergquist, J. C.; English, Thomas C.; Glaze, D. J.

doi:10.1063/1.90690

Cited by 83 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…This effect has not yet been observed. If one were to probe the total atomic density rather than some internal state density in the experiments of [16,17,19], the sought after effect should be observable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Matter-wave interference using two-level atoms and resonant optical fields

Dubetsky

Berman

1999

Phys. Rev. A

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A theory of matter wave interference is developed in which resonant, standing wave optical fields interact with an ensemble of two-level atoms. If effects related to the recoil the atoms undergo on absorbing or emitting radiation are neglected, the total atomic density is spatially uniform. However, when recoil effects are included, spatial modulation of the atomic density can occur for times that are greater than or comparable with the inverse recoil frequency, ω −1 q . In this regime, the atoms exhibit matter-wave interference that can be used as the basis of a matter wave atom interferometer. Two specific atom field geometries are considered. In the first, atoms characterized by a homogeneous velocity distribution are subjected to a single radiation pulse. The pulse excites the atoms which then decay back to the lower state. The spatial modulation of the total atomic density is calculated as a function of t, where t is the time following the pulse. In contrast to the normal Talbot effect, the spatially modulated density is not a periodic function of t, owing to spontaneous emission; however, after a sufficiently long time, the contribution from spontaneous processes no longer plays a role and the Talbot periodicity is restored. In the second atom-field geometry, there are two pulses separated by an interval T . The atomic velocity distribution in this case is assumed to be inhomogeneously broadened. Owing to the inhomogeneous broadening, one finds a nonvanishing spatial modulation of the density only at specific "echo times" following the second pulse. In contrast to the normal Talbot-Lau effect, the spatially modulated density is not a periodic function of T, owing to spontaneous emission; however, for sufficiently long time, the contribution from spontaneous processes no longer plays a role and the Talbot periodicity is restored. The structure of the spatially modulated density in the vicinity of the echo times is studied, and is found to mirror the atomic density following the first pulse. With a suitable choice of observation time and field strengths, the spatially modulated atomic density serves as an indirect probe of the distribution of spontaneously emitted radiation.03.75. Be, 39.20+q, 32.80.Lg

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although matter wave effects can modify the signals in ISMWAI, many features of the signals are determined by classical considerations, as in CAI. Examples of ISMWAI interferometers include those which explore recoil splitting of optical Ramsey fringes in the frequency domain [15][16][17][18]2,19], and time-domain [6,20,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Matter-wave interference using two-level atoms and resonant optical fields

Dubetsky

Berman

1999

Phys. Rev. A

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“…Finally, we can excite the atoms sequentially with laser pulses of equal intensity and frequency detuning. Sequential excitation greatly simplifies the analysis, since it removes the possibility of events containing more than two photons from different directions that can distort the lineshapes [4,5,9].…”

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confidence: 99%

“…[5,6,7,8]). In all of these studies the closely spaced recoil components were superimposed on a broad Doppler background, thereby obscuring the recoilinduced asymmetries inherent in light-atom interactions.…”

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

2005

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The atomic recoil effect leads to large (25 %) asymmetries in simple spectroscopic investigations of Ca atoms that have been laser-cooled to 10 µK. 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 observed before in saturation spectroscopy. These results are relevant to state-of-the-art optical atomic clocks based on freely expanding neutral atoms. 42.62.Fi When we recently started using much colder Ca atoms for our ultra-high resolution optical clock spectroscopy, we discovered unexpectedly large asymmetries in the resulting spectra, which we found to be the direct result of atomic recoil.[1] Most surprising was that these effects appeared on a frequency scale more than ten times larger than the size of the recoil effect itself. In this letter we use a simple saturation spectroscopic configuration to show how the small effect of atomic recoil can cause these large asymmetries in the spectra of samples of freely expanding cold atoms. Not only are these effects of interest from the point of view of basic physics, they also have important implications for future optical clocks based on laser-cooled neutral atoms. [1,2] The effects of atomic recoil have been of considerable interest to laser spectroscopists for more than 30 years [3] and are the foundation of laser cooling of atoms. The first experimental evidence that saturation absorption spectroscopy produced a recoil splitting in the Doppler-free spectra of atomic and molecular lines was demonstrated by Hall, Bordé, and Uehara using a highresolution laser spectrometer.[4] Since then there have been several beautiful demonstrations of recoil splitting via various forms of saturation spectroscopy (see for example refs. [5,6,7,8]). In all of these studies the closely spaced recoil components were superimposed on a broad Doppler background, thereby obscuring the recoilinduced asymmetries inherent in light-atom interactions. In the work presented here, the width of the Doppler background is only seven times that of the recoil splitting, thereby clearly exposing the asymmetric aspect of the recoil components in the Doppler-broadened regime (see Fig 1). Moreover, by gradually changing the resolution, we show how this leads to large spectral asymmetries in the Fourier-transform limit. These effects differ from asymmetries described in earlier papers, which resulted from spontaneous emission or collisional quenching. [3,4] As described elsewhere, the recoil doublet can be readily understood from conservation of momentum and energy. [3,4] When an atom initially at rest absorbs a photon of frequency ν, it recoils with a velocity, v r = FIG. 1: Two-pulse saturated absorption spectrum as a function of laser detuning from the Bohr frequency with a probe pulse dura...

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Optical Frequency Standards Based on Neutral Atoms and Molecules

Riehle

Helmcke

Topics in Applied Physics

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Resolution of photon-recoil structure of the 6573-Å calcium line in an atomic beam with optical Ramsey fringes

Cited by 83 publications

References 7 publications

Matter-wave interference using two-level atoms and resonant optical fields

Matter-wave interference using two-level atoms and resonant optical fields

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

Optical Frequency Standards Based on Neutral Atoms and Molecules

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