849 research outputs found
Pump-probe measurement of atomic parity violation in caesium with a precision of 2.6%
We present the atomic parity violation measurements made in Cs vapour using a
pump-probe scheme. After pulsed excitation of the 6S-7S forbidden transition in
the presence of a longitudinal electric field, a laser beam resonant with one
of the 7S-6P transitions stimulates the 7S atom emission for a duration of 20
ns. The polarisation of the amplified probe beam is analysed. A seven-fold
signature allows discrimination of the parity violating linear dichroism, and
real-time calibration by a similar, known, parity conserving linear dichroism.
The zero-field linear dichroism signal due to the magnetic dipole transition
moment is observed for the first time, and used for in-situ determination of
the electric field. The result, ImE1^{pv}= (-808+/- 21) 10^{-14} ea\_{0}, is in
perfect agreement with the corresponding, more precise measurement obtained by
the Boulder group. A transverse field configuration with large probe
amplification could bring atomic parity violation measurements to the 0.1%
accuracy level.Comment: "conference PAVI 06, Milos, Greece, May 2006
Measurement of the parity violating 6S-7S transition amplitude in cesium achieved within 2 \times 10^{-13} atomic-unit accuracy by stimulated-emission detection
We exploit the process of asymmetry amplification by stimulated emission
which provides an original method for parity violation (PV) measurements in a
highly forbidden atomic transition. The method involves measurements of a
chiral, transient, optical gain of a cesium vapor on the 7S-6P_{3/2}
transition, probed after it is excited by an intense, linearly polarized,
collinear laser, tuned to resonance for one hyperfine line of the forbidden
6S-7S transition in a longitudinal electric field. We report here a 3.5 fold
increase, of the one-second-measurement sensitivity, and subsequent reduction
by a factor of 3.5 of the statistical accuracy compared with our previous
result [J. Gu\'ena et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 143001 (2003)]. Decisive
improvements to the set-up include an increased repetition rate, better
extinction of the probe beam at the end of the probe pulse and, for the first
time to our knowledge, the following: a polarization-tilt magnifier,
quasi-suppression of beam reflections at the cell windows, and a Cs cell with
electrically conductive windows. We also present real-time tests of systematic
effects, consistency checks on the data, as well as a 1% accurate measurement
of the electric field seen by the atoms, from atomic signals. PV measurements
performed in seven different vapor cells agree within the statistical error.
Our present result is compatible with the more precise Boulder result within
our present relative statistical accuracy of 2.6%, corresponding to a 2 \times
10^{-13} atomic-unit uncertainty in E_1^{pv}. Theoretical motivations for
further measurements are emphasized and we give a brief overview of a recent
proposal that would allow the uncertainty to be reduced to the 0.1% level by
creating conditions where asymmetry amplification is much greater.Comment: Article 21 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables Typos, addition of few comments
and little more data (1 week) leading to a slight reduction of the error bar
Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.
A new Manifestation of Atomic Parity Violation in Cesium: a Chiral Optical Gain induced by linearly polarized 6S-7S Excitation
We have detected, by using stimulated emission, an Atomic Parity Violation
(APV) in the form of a chiral optical gain of a cesium vapor on the 7S -
6P transition,consecutive to linearly polarized 6S-7S excitation. We
demonstrate the validity of this detection method of APV, by presenting a 9%
accurate measurement of expected sign and magnitude. We underline several
advantages of this entirely new approach in which the cylindrical symmetry of
the set-up can be fully exploited. Future measurements at the percent level
will provide an important cross-check of an existing more precise result
obtained by a different method.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Atomic interferometer measurements of Berry's and Aharonov-Anandan's phases for isolated spins S > 1/2 non-linearly coupled to external fields
The aim of the present paper is to propose experiments for observing the
significant features of Berry's phases for S>1, generated by spin-Hamiltonians
endowed with two couplings, a magnetic dipole and an electric quadrupole one
with external B and E fields, as theoretically studied in our previous work.
The fields are assumed orthogonal, this mild restriction leading to geometric
and algebraic simplifications. Alkali atoms appear as good candidates for
interferometric measurements but there are challenges to be overcome. The only
practical way to generate a suitable E-field is to use the ac Stark effect
which induces an instability of the dressed atom. Besides atom loss, this might
invalidate Berry's phase derivation but this latter problem can be solved by an
appropriate detuning. The former puts an upper limit to the cycle duration,
which is bounded below by the adiabatic condition. By relying upon our previous
analysis of the non-adiabatic corrections, we have been able to reach a
compromise for the Rb hf level F=2, m=0 state, which is our candidate
for an interferometric measurement of the exotic Berry's phase generated by a
rotation of the E-field around the fixed B-field. By a numerical simulation we
have shown that the non-adiabatic corrections can be kept below the 0.1% level.
As an alternative candidate, we discuss the chromium ground state J=S=3, where
the instability problem is easily solved. We make a proposal to extend the
measurement of Aharonov-Anandan's phase beyond S=1/2 to the Rb hf level
F=m=1, by constructing, with the help of light-shifts, a Hamiltonian able to
perform a parallel transport along a closed circuit upon the density matrix
space, without any adiabatic constraint. In Appendix A, Berry's phase
difference for S=3/2 and 1/2, m=1/2 states is used to perform an entanglement
of 3 Qbits.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, modifications in the introduction, two
paragraphs adde
Cylindrical Symmetry Discrimination of Magnetoelectric Optical Systematic Effects in a Pump-probe Atomic Parity Violation Experiment
A pump-probe atomic parity violation (APV) experiment performed in a
longitudinal electric field, provides a signal breaking mirror symmetry while
preserving the cylindrical symmetry of the set-up. The excited vapor acts on
the probe beam as a linear dichroic amplifier, imprinting a very specific
signature on the detected signal. Our differential polarimeter is oriented to
yield a null result unless the excited atoms are endowed with a chirality of
some kind. Ideally, only the APV (E-odd) and the calibration (E-even) signals
contribute to a chiral atomic response, a situation highly favourable to the
detection of a tiny effect. In the present work we give a thorough analysis of
possible unwanted defects like stray transverse fields or misalignments which
would spoil the ideal set-up and lead to chiral systematics. A possible way to
suppress such effects is to perform global rotations of the experiment by
incremental steps of 45 degrees, leaving both stray fields and misalignments
unaltered. The conspiration of at least two defects is necessary to affect the
E-odd polarimeter signal. The transverse nature of the defects manifests itself
by an azimuthal cosine square modulation. The harmful systematics are those
which survive the averaging over four successive configurations. They require
the presence of a stray transverse electric field, which can be determined and
eventually minimized by auxiliary measurements of the systematic effects,
amplified by applying a known external magnetic field. Transverse stray
magnetic fields must be compensated by a similar procedure. We also propose
statistical correlation tests as diagnoses of the aforementioned systematic
effects.Comment: Articl
A linear Stark shift in dressed atoms as a signal to measure a nuclear anapole moment with a cold atom fountain or interferometer
We demonstrate theoretically the existence of a linear dc Stark shift of the
individual substates of an alkali atom in its ground state, dressed by a
circularly polarized laser field. It arises from the electroweak nuclear
anapole moment violating P but not T. It is characterized by the pseudoscalar
equal to the mixed product formed with the photon angular momentum and static
electric and magnetic fields. We derive the relevant left-right asymmetry with
its complete signature in a field configuration selected for a precision
measurement with cold atom beams. The 3,3 to 4,3 Cs hyperfine-transition
frequency shift amounts to 7 Hz for a laser power of about 1 kW at 877 nm,
E=100 kV/cm and B larger than 0.5 G.Comment: Article, 4 pages, 2 figure
Demonstration of an optical polarization magnifier with low birefringence
In any polarimetric measurement technique, enhancing the laser polarization
change of a laser beam before it reaches the analyzer can help in improving the
sensitivity. This can be performed using an optical component having a large
linear dichroism, the enhancement factor being equal to the square root of the
ratio of the two transmission factors. A pile of parallel plates at Brewster
incidence looks appropriate for realizing such a polarization magnifier. In
this paper, we address the problem raised by the interference in the plates and
between the plates, which affects the measurement by giving rise to
birefringence. We demonstrate that wedged plates provide a convenient and
efficient way to avoid this interference. We have implemented and characterized
devices with 4 and 6 wedged plates at Brewster incidence which have led to a
decisive improvement of the signal to noise ratio in our ongoing Parity
Violation measurement.Comment: 08 october 200
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