74 research outputs found
The effects of the pre-pulse on capillary discharge extreme ultraviolet laser
In the past few years collisionally pumped extreme ultraviolet (XUV) lasers
utilizing a capillary discharge were demonstrated. An intense current pulse is
applied to a gas filled capillary, inducing magnetic collapse (Z-pinch) and
formation of a highly ionized plasma column. Usually, a small current pulse
(pre-pulse) is applied to the gas in order to pre-ionize it prior to the onset
of the main current pulse. In this paper we investigate the effects of the
pre-pulse on a capillary discharge Ne-like Ar XUV laser (46.9nm). The
importance of the pre-pulse in achieving suitable initial conditions of the gas
column and preventing instabilities during the collapse is demonstrated.
Furthermore, measurements of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE)
properties (intensity, duration) in different pre-pulse currents revealed
unexpected sensitivity. Increasing the pre-pulse current by a factor of two
caused the ASE intensity to decrease by an order of magnitude - and to nearly
disappear. This effect is accompanied by a slight increase in the lasing
duration. We attribute this effect to axial flow in the gas during the
pre-pulse.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Isotropic magnetometry with simultaneous excitation of orientation and alignment CPT resonances
Atomic magnetometers have very high absolute precision and sensitivity to
magnetic fields but suffer from a fundamental problem: the vectorial or
tensorial interaction of light with atoms leads to "dead zones", certain
orientations of magnetic field where the magnetometer loses its sensitivity. We
demonstrate a simple polarization modulation scheme that simultaneously creates
coherent population trapping (CPT) in orientation and alignment, thereby
eliminating dead zones. Using Rb in a 10 Torr buffer gas cell we measure
narrow, high-contrast CPT transparency peaks in all orientations and also show
absence of systematic effects associated with non-linear Zeeman splitting.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Measurement of Dicke Narrowing in Electromagnetically Induced Transparency
Dicke narrowing is a phenomena that dramatically reduces the Doppler width of
spectral lines, due to frequent velocity-changing collisions. A similar
phenomena occurs for electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) resonances,
and facilitates ultra-narrow spectral features in room-temperature vapor. We
directly measure the Dicke-like narrowing by studying EIT line-shapes as a
function of the angle between the pump and the probe beams. The measurements
are in good agreement with an analytic theory with no fit parameters. The
results show that Dicke narrowing can increase substantially the tolerance of
hot-vapor EIT to angular deviations. We demonstrate the importance of this
effect for applications such as imaging and spatial solitons using a
single-shot imaging experiment, and discuss the implications on the feasibility
of storing images in atomic vapor.Comment: Introduction revise
Theory of Dicke narrowing in coherent population trapping
The Doppler effect is one of the dominant broadening mechanisms in thermal
vapor spectroscopy. For two-photon transitions one would naively expect the
Doppler effect to cause a residual broadening, proportional to the wave-vector
difference. In coherent population trapping (CPT), which is a narrow-band
phenomenon, such broadening was not observed experimentally. This has been
commonly attributed to frequent velocity-changing collisions, known to narrow
Doppler-broadened one-photon absorption lines (Dicke narrowing). Here we show
theoretically that such a narrowing mechanism indeed exists for CPT resonances.
The narrowing factor is the ratio between the atom's mean free path and the
wavelength associated with the wave-vector difference of the two radiation
fields. A possible experiment to verify the theory is suggested.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; Introduction revise
Ramsey-like measurement of the decoherence rate between Zeeman sub-levels
Two-photon processes that involve different sub-levels of the ground state of
an atom, are highly sensitive to depopulation and decoherence within the ground
state. For example, the spectral width of electromagnetically induced
transparency resonances in type system, are strongly affected by the
ground state depopulation and decoherence rates. We present a direct
measurement of decay rates between hyperfine and Zeeman sub-levels in the
ground state of Rb vapor. Similar to the relaxation-in-the-dark
technique, pumping lasers are used to pre-align the atomic vapor in a well
defined quantum state. The free propagation of the atomic state is monitored
using a Ramsey-like method. Coherence times in the range 1-10 ms were measured
for room temperature atomic vapor. In the range of the experimental parameters
used in this study, the dominant process inducing Zeeman decoherence is the
spin-exchange collisions between rubidium atoms.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
Experimental demonstration of a technique to generate arbitrary quantum superposition states
Using a single, harmonically trapped Be ion, we experimentally
demonstrate a technique for generation of arbitrary states of a two-level
particle confined by a harmonic potential. Rather than engineering a single
Hamiltonian that evolves the system to a desired final sate, we implement a
technique that applies a sequence of simple operations to synthesize the state
Hyperfine Coherence in the Presence of Spontaneous Photon Scattering
The coherence of a hyperfine-state superposition of a trapped Be
ion in the presence of off-resonant light is experimentally studied. It is
shown that Rayleigh elastic scattering of photons that does not change state
populations also does not affect coherence. Coherence times exceeding the
average scattering time of 19 photons are observed. This result implies that,
with sufficient control over its parameters, laser light can be used to
manipulate hyperfine-state superpositions with very little decoherence.Comment: Letter, 4 figure
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