Dynamic holography in alkali metal vapour

Problems of dynamic hologram recording on resonant absorption lines of alkali metal vapour are discussed. Light beams and media parameters are determined that are necessary for hologram recording with usable efficiency. The effects of thermal atomic motion and the radiative transport of excitation influence on the spatial frequency transfer function of two-level media are investigated. Results of hologram recording in vapour of Rb (780.0 nm) and Cs (852.1 nm) using low-power CW-lasers are presented. Transmission holograms in the volume media and reflection holograms near the boundary of the resonant vapour and the dielectric are compared. For transmission holograms the advantage of collinear read-out when using pure vapour in comparison with a counterpropagating read-out is shown, and this makes it possible to achieve higher values of hologram efficiency over a wide range of atomic density. It is shown that reflection hologram recording is characterized by higher resolution, as compared with hologram recordings in the volume of extended media. Problems of metal vapour hologram usage for laser parameter control are discussed. The feasibility of holograms in Cs-vapour usage as a spectral-selective real-time feedback element in a semiconductor laser external cavity is shown.