Small-sized dichroic atomic vapor laser lock

Abstract

Two, lightweight diode laser frequency stabilization systems designed for experiments in the field are described. A significant reduction in size and weight in both models supports the further miniaturization of measurement devices in the field. Similar to a previous design, magnetic-field lines are contained within a magnetic shield enclosing permanent magnets and a Rb cell, so that these DAVLL systems may be used for magnetically sensitive instruments. The Mini-DAVLL system (49 mm long) uses a vapor cell (20 mm long), and does not require cell heaters. An even smaller Micro-DAVLL system (9mm long) uses a micro-fabricated cell (3 mm square), and requires heaters. These new systems show no degradation in performance with regard to previous designs, while considerably reducing dimensions.PACS numbers: 07.55. Ge, 32.60.+i, 85.70.Sq a) These authors have contributed equally to this work.

Alkali-vapor magnetic resonance driven by fictitious radiofrequency fields

“…A zero-order quarter-wave plate before the magnetic shield ensures circularly polarized light. The pump frequency is locked to the D1 F = 3 → F = 4 transition by a dichroic atomic vapor laser lock (DAVLL) [28][29][30]. Since we observe a magnetic resonance within the F = 4 manifold, the probe is tuned to the D2 F = 4 → F = 5 transition, stabilized by a seperate DAVLL.…”

Dichroic atomic vapor laser lock with multi-gigahertz stabilization range

“…As shown in Ref. [15], the performance of such a system is comparable to that of a traditional DAVLL, which, among the others, opens the possibility of its incorporation into laser heads to enhance the laser performance or construction of portable atomic magnetometers [17] Another important feature of the DAVLL system is its ability to lock the laser in a relatively broad frequency range (e.g., ∼ 600 MHz in systems exploiting a buffergas-free room-temperature alkali vapor). While this is significantly more than obtainable with other techniques (e.g., those based on saturated-absorption spectroscopy or those referencing the laser to an optical cavity), it may not be enough for some applications.…”

“…The DAVLL system was essentially identical to the one used in Ref. [15]. The only difference was in a microfabricated rubidium (natural abundance) vapor cell (1 × 2 × 3 mm 3 ), manufactured at IPHT Jena as described in Ref.…”

“…This limited number of components enables miniaturization of the system. In fact, a DAVLL with a volume of several cm 3 was recently demonstrated [15]. The key element of the system was a microfabricated vapor cell (microcell) with a volume smaller than 1 mm 3 [16].…”

Nonlinear magneto-optical rotation in rubidium vapor excited with blue light

“…The effect has also been used in investigations of the relaxation of ground-state coherences in atomic vapor [6][7][8], resulting in refinement of the techniques enabling the generation of long-lived ( 60 s) ground-state coherences [9]. On a more practical side, NMOR has found applications in atomic clocks [10], optical magnetome- * pustelny@uj.edu.pl ters [11,12], narrow-band optical filters [13], and laserfrequency locking systems [14]. An interesting area of application of NMOR is fundamental research.…”