Two-photon spectroscopy of laser-cooled Rb using a mode-locked laser

Snadden, M.J.; Bell, A. S.; Riis, Erling; Ferguson, A. I.

doi:10.1016/0030-4018(95)00711-3

Cited by 70 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The ultrafast pulse trains from mode-locked lasers exhibit high spectral resolution [17,18,19]. The high peak powers of ultrafast pulses enable efficient nonlinear optics far into the UV, greatly increasing the time-averaged optical power available at short wavelengths [20,21].…”

Section: Laser Cooling Of Hydrogen (H) Deuterium (D) and Antihydrogmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser cooling of atoms and molecules with ultrafast pulses

Kielpinski

2006

Phys. Rev. A

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We propose a new laser cooling method for atomic species whose level structure makes traditional laser cooling difficult. For instance, laser cooling of hydrogen requires single-frequency vacuumultraviolet light, while multielectron atoms need single-frequency light at many widely separated frequencies. These restrictions can be eased by laser cooling on two-photon transitions with ultrafast pulse trains. Laser cooling of hydrogen, antihydrogen, and many other species appears feasible, and extension of the technique to molecules may be possible.

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Section: Laser Cooling Of Hydrogen (H) Deuterium (D) and Antihydrogmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser cooling of atoms and molecules with ultrafast pulses

Kielpinski

2006

Phys. Rev. A

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“…The two-photon transition rate was resonantly enhanced via available intermediate states using either two different excitation laser frequencies (13) or high-velocity atomic beams (14). High-resolution two-photon spectroscopy using picosecond pulsed light, hence without any appreciable intermediate-state interaction or absolute frequency reference, has been previously demonstrated (15,16).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…However, their work suggests that versatile programmable molecular systems capable of algorithmic assembly into an infinite variety of 2D or three-dimensional (3D) supra-architectures with increasing pattern complexity, shape, molecular diversity, and size could potentially be generated with nucleic acids (10). Although more chemically labile than DNA, natural RNAs offer a richer treasure trove of rigid structural motifs (11)(12)(13)(14) that can be potential modules for supramolecular engineering (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). RNA tectonics (15) refers to the modular character of RNA, which can be decomposed and reassembled to create new RNA nanoscopic architectures.…”

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confidence: 99%

United Time-Frequency Spectroscopy for Dynamics and Global Structure

Marian

Stowe

Lawall

et al. 2004

Science

270

195

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Ultrashort laser pulses have thus far been used in two distinct modes. In the time domain, the pulses have allowed probing and manipulation of dynamics on a subpicosecond time scale. More recently, phase stabilization has produced optical frequency combs with absolute frequency reference across a broad bandwidth. Here we combine these two applications in a spectroscopic study of rubidium atoms. A wide-bandwidth, phase-stabilized femtosecond laser is used to monitor the real-time dynamic evolution of population transfer. Coherent pulse accumulation and quantum interference effects are observed and well modeled by theory. At the same time, the narrow linewidth of individual comb lines permits a precise and efficient determination of the global energy-level structure, providing a direct connection among the optical, terahertz, and radio-frequency domains. The mechanical action of the optical frequency comb on the atomic sample is explored and controlled, leading to precision spectroscopy with an appreciable reduction in systematic errors.Ultrashort laser pulses have given a remarkably detailed picture of photophysical dynamics. In studies of alkali atoms (1) and diatomics (2) in particular, coherent wave packet motion has been observed and even actively controlled. However, the broad bandwidth of these pulses has prevented a simultaneous high-precision measurement of state energies. At the expense of losing any direct observation or control of coherent dynamics, precision spectroscopy enabled by continuous wave (cw) lasers has been one of the most important fields of modern scientific research, providing the experimental underpinning of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics.This trade-off between the time and frequency domains might seem fundamental, but in fact it results from pulse-to-pulse phase fluctuations in laser operation. The recent introduction of phase-stabilized, widebandwidth frequency combs based on modelocked femtosecond lasers has provided a direct connection between these two domains (3, 4). Many laboratories have constructed frequency combs that establish optical frequency markers directly linked to a microwave or optical standard, covering a variety of spectral intervals. Atomic and molecular structural information can now be probed over a broad spectral range, with vastly improved measurement precision and accuracy enabled by this absolute frequency-based approach (5). One of the direct applications is the development of optical atomic clocks (6-8). To date, however, traditional cw laserbased spectroscopic approaches have been essential to all of these experiments, with frequency combs serving only as reference rulers (9).Here we take advantage of the phasestable femtosecond pulse train to bridge the fields of high-resolution spectroscopy and ultrafast dynamics. This approach of direct frequency comb spectroscopy (DFCS) uses light from a comb of appropriate structure to directly interrogate a multitude of atomic levels and to study time-dependent quantum coherence. DFCS allows time-resol...

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“…Similar experiments were performed with two delayed pulses in sodium, demonstrating Ramsey-type interference (Salour and Cohen-Tannoudji 1977). There were no developments until 1996 when a mode-locked laser was used to determine hyperfine splittings in rubidium (Snadden et al 1996) and in 1997 a similar experiment in cesium was carried out . Because f 0 control was still not possible at that time, only relative measurements could be performed.…”

Section: Figure 28mentioning

confidence: 89%

Precision Laser Spectroscopy in the Extreme Ultraviolet

Eikema

Ubachs

2011

Handbook of High‐resolution Spectroscopy

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Techniques for the production of short wavelengths in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength range are described, spanning low‐order harmonic generation in the perturbative regime for narrow bandwidth XUV production to the plateau‐regime with the three‐step collisional model for the generation of high harmonics with broadband ultrafast pulses. In addition, the intermediate regime is discussed for pulses of 300 ps duration, as well as the regime of harmonic conversion based on continuous wave lasers aiming at the production of coherent Lyman‐α radiation. Applications of XUV sources in the frequency domain typically rely on the production of XUV‐light from narrowband Fourier‐transform‐limited pulses for recording high‐resolution spectra. Alternatively, harmonically upconverted pulses of ultrashort duration (with inter‐pulse coherence) can be used for spectroscopic studies in the time and frequency domain (such as direct frequency comb spectroscopy techniques). Examples of both approaches for atomic and molecular spectroscopy are discussed at some length. For precision metrology on atomic systems, a focus is put on the Lamb shift determination in the He ground state. In the realm of molecular spectroscopy, predissociation phenomena in the nitrogen molecule are highlighted, with relevance for dissociation processes occurring in the upper layers of the Earth atmosphere. Similar predissociation phenomena in carbon monoxide are also treated in some detail, in this case with relevance for the chemistry in interstellar clouds. Precision XUV spectroscopy of molecular hydrogen is discussed as well, as it relates to the possibility of detecting a variation of the proton–electron mass ratio on a cosmological time scale. In the last section, applications of direct frequency comb spectroscopic techniques at short wavelengths are explained and prospects are given for using these techniques at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths.

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Two-photon spectroscopy of laser-cooled Rb using a mode-locked laser

Cited by 70 publications

References 18 publications

Laser cooling of atoms and molecules with ultrafast pulses

Laser cooling of atoms and molecules with ultrafast pulses

United Time-Frequency Spectroscopy for Dynamics and Global Structure

Precision Laser Spectroscopy in the Extreme Ultraviolet

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