Femtosecond laser pulse train effect on Doppler profile of cesium resonance lines

We present direct observation of the velocity-selective optical pumping of the Cs ground state hyperfine levels induced by the femtosecond (fs) laser oscillator centered at either D2 (6 2S1/2↦6 2P3/2, 852 nm) or D1 (6 2S1/2↦6 2P1/2, 894 nm) cesium line. We utilized previously developed modified direct frequency comb spectroscopy (DFCS) which uses a fixed frequency comb for the excitation and a weak cw scanning probe laser centered at the 133Cs 6 2S1/2↦6 2P3/2 transition (D2 line) for ground levels population monitoring. The frequency comb excitation changes the usual Doppler absorption profile into a specific periodic, comblike structure. The mechanism of the velocity selective population transfer between the Cs ground state hyperfine levels induced by fs pulse train excitation is verified in a theoretical treatment of the multilevel atomic system subjected to a pulse train resonant field interaction

Static and dynamic properties of low-temperature order in the one-dimensional semiconductor (NbSe₄)₃I

International audienceWe investigated static and dynamic lattice properties in a quasi-one-dimensional charge-ordered semiconductor (NbSe 4) 3 I by using Raman, femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction. In addition to a welldocumented pseudo-Jahn-Teller ferrodistortive structural transition at T C = 274 K, where the displacements of Nb ions lead to ferroelectric (FE) in-chain polarization with opposite direction in adjacent chains, all methods suggest an additional lowering of symmetry at T * ≈ 160 K. Although antiferroelectric (AFE) phase is partially formed at T C , our results consistently point to an enhancement of the interchain order at T * , thus leading to AFE order-disorder transition, as supported by the earlier dielectric and structural studies