Spectrally selective optical pumping in Doppler-broadened cesium atoms

The D1 line spectrally selective pumping process in Doppler-broadened cesium is analyzed by solving the optical Bloch equations. The process, described by a three-level model with the Λ scheme, shows that the saturation intensity of broadened atoms is three orders of magnitude larger than that of resting atoms. The |Fg = 3 〉→ |Fe = 4 〉resonance pumping can result in the ground state |Fg = 4 〉, mF = 4 〉sublevel having a maximum population of 0.157 and the population difference would be about 0.01 in two adjacent magnetic sublevels of the hyperfine (HF) state Fg = 4. To enhance the anisotropy in the ground state, we suggest employing dichromatic optical HF pumping by adding a laser to excite D1 line |Fg = 4 〉→ |Fe = 3 〉transition, in which the cesium magnetometer sensitivity increases by half a magnitude and is unaffected by the nonlinear Zeeman effect even in Earth's average magnetic field.     

Resonant optical orientation and alignment of excitons in superlattices

Exciton states in short-period GaAs/AlGaAs superlattices have been studied by optical orientation and optical dipole-moment alignment methods. The effect of magnetic field in the Faraday and Voigt geometries on the degree of linear and circular polarization of photoluminescence have been studied under resonant and nonresonant excitation. The constants of electron-hole exchange interaction in the exciton have been determined. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 2229–2235 (December 1998)     

Non-Abelian Berry's phase effects and optical pumping of atoms

We predict experimentally verifiable manifestations of non-Abelian Berry's phase effects for atoms in external collinear electric and magnetic fields. The field strengths are arranged so as to cause accidental degeneracy between atomic states. The relevant theoretical results, which have been presented in detail elsewhere, are summarized and explained. We propose an experiment using optically pumped metastable multiplets of Pb²⁰⁸ in an atomic beam apparatus to test these predictions. We estimate required experimental parameters, and conclude that the proposed experiment can realistically be performed.     

Laser spectroscopy and optical pumping of alkali atoms in superfluid helium

In this paper, our recent works on the alkali atoms in superfluid helim (HeII) are reported. At first we mentions the laser-sputtering method for implantation, which is simple but is very efficient to produce various kinds of neutral atoms and molecules in HeII. Secondly, we report on the laser spectroscopy of alkali atoms in HeII. Optical excitation and emission spectra are found to be roughly explained by a spherical atomic bubble model, but the spectra corresponding to the D₂ lines indicate the quadrupole oscillation of the bubble shape. Optical pumping by a circularly polarized laser beam is found to produce perfect polarization, for both electron and nuclear spins. Using the rf-optical double resonance techniques, the magnetic and hyperfine resonances are observed. It is discussed also about the phenomena which have observed in the experiments done so far but have not been fully explained.     

Interference effects in alignment and orientation processes of atoms excited by polarized radiation

The dynamics of the processes of alignment and orientation of atoms subjected to the action of polarized radiation has been studied theoretically in the energy range of excitation of autoionization resonances. The alignment parameters A ₂₀ for the 4p ⁴5p states of Kr II populated through the excitation and autoionization decay of Kr I 3d ⁹ np resonances depend on energy due to the interference between different resonance channels and the channel of direct photoionization. It is predicted that the orientation parameter O ₁₀ of some Kr II 4p ⁴5p states and the parameter of the angular distribution of photoelectrons β_e1 strongly depend on energy. The absolute photoionization cross sections are calculated for the population of the Kr II 4p ⁴5p states in the case where the energy of excitation photons corresponds to the first four 3d ⁹ np resonances. A good agreement between the calculated and measured photoionization cross sections proves that it is important to take into account the interference between different resonance channels in order to appreciate the dynamics of the Auger decay of Kr I 3d ⁹ np resonances.     

Determination of the polarization of deuterium atoms following optical orientation

The redistribution of the electronic polarization in deuterium atoms is analyzed theoretically and the various polarization moments are shown to influence the magnetic resonance signal of deuterium. The analysis gives expressions that relate the amplitudes of the magnetic resonance signals for various Zeemann sublevels of the D atom to the electronic and nuclear polarizations of these atoms and their nuclear alignment. Experimental data on the optical orientation and spin exchange in a D-Cs mixture are used to determine the electronic and nuclear orientation and nuclear alignment of the D atoms, which are found to be 〈S _z〉=0.1, 〈I _z〉=0.27, and 〈Q _zz=0.027. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 67, 22–26 (January 1997)     

Generation of multiple orientation in an alkali vapour by intermediate optical pumping

Summary The generation of hyperfine, dipole and quadrupole orientations in an alkali vapour by means of optical pumping withD ₁ σ-polarized light is studied in an intermediate pumping approximation. Pumping equations are explicitly given for any alkali vapour in the case of white-light pumping and for cesium vapour (I=7/2) in the case of pumping with nonuniform spectrum light. The dependence of the steady-state multipole orientation on the pumping and relaxation characteristic parameters is discussed.

---

Riassunto Si studia la generazione di orientamenti iperfini, dipolari e quadrupolari in vapore alcalino mediante pompaggio ottico con luce σ-polarizzataD ₁ in un'approssimazione di pompaggio intermedio. Le equazioni di pompaggio sono date esplicitamente per ogni vapore alcalino nel caso di pompaggio di luce bianca, e per vapore di cesio (I=7/2) nel caso di pompaggio con luce spettrale non uniforme. Si discute la dipendenza dell'orientazione multipolare dello stato stazionario dal pompaggio e dai parametri caratteristici di rilassamento.

---

Резюме Исследуется получение сверхтонких дипольной и квадрупольной ориентации в щелочных парах с помощью накачкиD ₁ σ-поляризованным светом в приближении промежуточной накачки. В явном виде записываются уравнения накачки для любых щелочных паров в случае накачки белым светом, а для паров цезия (I=7/2) в случае накачки светом с неравномерным спектром. Обсуждается зависимость стационарной мультипольной ориентации от накачки и характерных параметров релаксации.

     

Observation of the spin polarization of Cs atoms during optical orientation of metastable helium atoms in alkali-helium plasma

We are the first to experimentally observe a magnetic-resonance signal of 6² S _1/2 Cs atoms by absorption of light from a helium lamp that was used to optically orient metastable 2³ S ₁ He atoms. The amplitude of the cesium signal proved to be almost three orders of magnitude lower than the amplitude of the magnetic resonance of 2³ S ₁ He atoms. Particular features of the creation and observation of the collisional polarization of cesium under conditions of alkali-helium plasma have been discussed.     

Multiple frequency radiofrequency-optical resonance in a four-level model of rubidium atoms with optical pumping

We consider a four-level model for alkali metal atoms with optical pumping by nonresonant light under conditions when magnetic dipole transitions are induced between energy sublevels of the hyperfine structure in the ground state. We present the dependences of the observed signal as a function of the frequency detuning of the applied rf fields relative to the resonant value, calculated in the density matrix formalism. We note the absence of a light shift in the radiofrequency-optical resonance signal, independent of the amplitude of the rf field and the optical and thermal relaxation rates. We show that when using a modulation technique for phase detection of the signal, its maximum discrimination ability is observed under conditions for simultaneous modulation of the pump light intensity and the frequency of the rf field, which in principle does not occur in the classical two-level model for optically oriented atoms in magnetic resonance. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 326–329, May–June, 2006.     

Effect of optical pumping of metastable helium atoms on the operation of a helium-neon laser

Nonradiative destruction of the upper levels of helium has made possible optical pumping of metastable 2³S He atoms in a helium-neon laser. The changes in gain under various discharge conditions have been determined by introducing an extra loss, which has produced the same drop in generated power as extra pumping from a helium tube. The lifetime of the metastable 2³S He atoms has been measured as a function of the discharge current under a specific set of conditions.     

Electron spin pumping of Rb atoms on He nanodroplets via nondestructive optical excitation

We measured laser-induced-fluorescence (LIF) and beam-depletion (BD) spectra of rubidium atoms (5S-5P transition) on the surface of superfluid helium nanodroplets (M-He_{N} with M=Rb). It is known that when M is a lighter alkali atom electronic excitation always leads to detachment of the excited atom (M;{*}). The dissociation energy, few tens cm;{-1}, comes either as photon excess energy or from the barrierless formation of a M;{*}-He exciplex. We observe that this picture does not hold when M=Rb and the photon excess energy is small: we are able to excite atoms without detaching them from the droplet, thanks to a barrier preventing formation of the exciplex. This system is ideally suited for optical spin pumping in a He nanodroplet, whose achievement we explicitly demonstrate in a pump-probe magnetic circular dichroism experiment.     

Resonances of sandwiched optical antenna

We calculate the resonant properties of the sandwiched triangle and bowtie antennas using finite difference time domain technique and compare with one-layer structures. The sandwiched antennas possess two tunable resonances corresponding to the symmetric and antisymmetric modes for dipole excitation, which can be understood by the hybridization of the plasmons supported by the two golden layers of the antennas. We obtain a giant field enhancement and a full width at half maximum as larger as 385 nm for the sandwiched bowtie antenna.     

Change in polarization of a weak signal induced by the optical pumping of atoms at an adjacent transition

A change in polarization of a weak wave under optical pumping of atoms at an adjacent atomic transition is studied. It is shown that an elliptically polarized probe signal undergoes substantial polarization changes in the field of a circularly polarized pump wave. For the probe wave component with the same circular polarization as that of a strong signal, the medium becomes transparent.     

Resonances at slow electron collisions with zinc atoms and ions

The optical excitation functions of four spectral lines corresponding to the transitions from the 4¹ D ₂, 5³ S ₁, 4³ D _j, and 6¹ S ₀ levels of atomic Zn were investigated with an electron spectrometer of a new construction. For the first time, elastic scattering of slow electrons from the Zn ions at an angle close to 180° was studied. In the energy range under investigation (0–7 eV), both the optical excitation functions of atomic spectral lines and the differential cross section of elastic scattering manifested the resonant structure caused by the contribution of autoionization states of the atom.     

Effect of cooperative interactions in optical ensembles on the threshold characteristics of lasing in the case of coherent optical pumping

The dependence of the threshold pump energy of dye lasers on the quantum yield of fluorescence of active solutions in the case of laser excitation was studied. The rate of increase in the threshold pump energy was found to be considerably lower than the rate of decrease in quantum yield. The results were interpreted in terms of the development of the cooperative interaction between active centers in the high-intensity coherent pump field.

     

Resonances at collisions of slow electrons with cadmium atoms and ions

Using the crossed-beam method and a hypocycloidal electron spectrometer, the energy dependence of the ionization cross section for the cadmium atom has been studied in the near-threshold region and the elastic scattering of slow electrons at an angle close to 180° by Cd⁺ ions was studied for the first time. Within the region under study (0–7 eV above the first atomic ionization potential), a resonance structure determined by the contribution of atomic autoionization states is revealed in both the ionization curve and differential cross section of elastic scattering. The structure in the measured curves has been analyzed with the use of data on the ejected-electron spectra obtained under the excitation of autoionization states of Cd atoms, as well as the data on the optical excitation functions for the atomic spectral lines at λ=430.7 nm (5¹ P ₁-8¹ S ₀), 515.5 nm (5¹ P ₁-7¹ S ₀), 298.0 nm (5³ P ₂-6³ D _j ), and 361.0 nm (5³ P ₂-5³ D _j ).