Optical Ramsey Fringes Research Articles

Resolution of photon-recoil structure of the 6573-Å calcium line in an atomic beam with optical Ramsey fringes

The photon-recoil components of the Ca 6573-Å line have been resolved using the three-zone optical Ramsey interference technique with an atomic beam. Linewidths as narrow as 3 kHz HWHM (line Q of 8×1010) are reported for zone separations up to 7 cm. An indication of the light-shift-induced contraction of the recoil splitting predicted by C.J. Bordé is obtained. Techniques are discussed which should lead to an optical wavelength/frequency standard with an accuracy of better than 10−14.

Optical ramsey fringes in two-photon spectroscopy

Interaction of atoms and molecules with intense monochromatic laser standing waves can give rise to very narrow Doppler-free two-photon resonances. This new high resolution spectroscopic method has recently been extensively applied to the study of several atomic and molecular optical transitions [1]. The discovery and accurate measurement of these narrow, frequency-stable resonance lines in the emission and absorption spectra of substances are significant because advances in this area will not only provide direct clues to the innermost processes of matter, but may also lead to novel applications in many areas of science.

Isolated optical Ramsey fringes in the 32S–42D two-photon transitions of sodium

By inducing a 90° phase shift between pairs of coherent time-delayed laser pulses, and taking the difference between the fluorescence resulting from pairs of coherent pulses with and without the phase shift, we have eliminated the diffraction background and isolated the Ramsey’s interference fringes in the profile of Doppler-free two-photon resonances. This technique also offers enormous improvement for other situations in which interference fringe contrast is poor.