Rubidium Vapor Cell Research Articles

Double Hanle resonance dependence on light polarization angle and transverse magnetic field direction

We present experimental and theoretical investigations of the dependence of double Hanle resonance spectrum on the light polarization angle and the direction of the applied transverse magnetic field (TMF). The experiments are done for Fg=2→Fe=1 transition of 87Rb D1 line using a rubidium vapor cell containing buffer gas. We show that a small light polarization component along the direction of TMF introduces asymmetry in the double Hanle resonance signal. Both the magnitude and sign of asymmetry in the signal are sensitive to the TMF orientation, suggesting a possible method for in-situ measurement of the direction of the magnetic fields generated by the coils. The physical origin of this asymmetry is explained by considering the redistribution of population among the ground-state Zeeman sublevels in the presence of TMF. In addition, we systematically vary both the polarization angle and TMF direction to study their effect on the line profile of Hanle resonances. We demonstrate that a double Hanle resonance changes to a dark Hanle resonance by rotating the light polarization vector irrespective of the TMF direction. We have developed a simple theoretical model based on a degenerate two-level system to explain our experimental observations.

High angular momentum coupling for enhanced Rydberg-atom sensing in the very-high frequency band

Recent advances in Rydberg-atom electrometry detail promising applications in radio frequency communications. Presently, most applications use carrier frequencies greater than 1 GHz where resonant Autler–Townes splitting provides the highest sensitivity. This letter documents a series of experiments with Rydberg atomic sensors to collect and process waveforms from the automated identification system (AIS) used in maritime navigation in the very high frequency (VHF) band. Detection in this band is difficult with conventional resonant Autler–Townes based Rydberg sensing and requires a new approach. We show the results of a method called high angular momentum matching excited Raman (HAMMER), which enhances low frequency detection and exhibits superior sensitivity compared to the traditional AC Stark effect. From measurements of electromagnetically induced transparency in rubidium and cesium vapor cells, we show the relationship between incident electric field strength and observed signal-to-noise ratio and find that the sensitivity of the HAMMER scheme in rubidium achieved an equivalent single VHF tone sensitivity of 100μV/m/Hz. With these results, we estimate the usable range of the atomic vapor cell antenna for AIS waveforms given current technology and detection techniques.

A Room‐Temperature Operational Alignment Magnetometer Utilizing Free‐Spin Precession

AbstractAn alignment magnetometer based on free‐spin precession (FSP) has been deployed in the geomagnetic range. A linearly polarized probe beam is utilized to create alignment in a buffer‐gas‐free paraffin‐coated natural abundance rubidium vapor cell at room temperature exposed to a pulsed radio frequency field. Furthermore, the utilization of hyperfine‐selective optical repumping employing linearly polarized beams amplifies the proportion of responsive atoms. As a consequence, this leads to a remarkable enhancement in the optical rotation signal. This paper reports measurements with a minor static magnetic field of about 1 inside a four‐layer ‐metal shield, achieving a system noise level of 0.16 ). With a static magnetic field amplitude of 48.5 (in proximity to Earth's magnetic field), the noise level is ).

Gain Assisted Raman Induced Classical and Quantum Talbot Imaging

Abstract2D Raman generated classical and quantum Talbot imaging is proposed in a three‐level gain assisted system. First, a 2D Raman induced grating (RIG) will be constructed by modulating transmission function in the weak probe channel using a strong control standing wave field. Furthermore, RIG will diffract a probe field, by shining a probing light beam on an optically generated lattice within a rubidium vapor cell. This study uses gain assisted Raman medium [Nature 406, 277 (2000)] to examine classical and quantum Talbot imaging. In the case of Raman‐induced classical imaging, the diffraction pattern repeats itself at planes with integer multiple Talbot lengths. Additionally, by taking into account entangled photon pairs, the scenario of Raman‐induced quantum imaging is investigated. This study also looks at the RIG's amplitude and phase information with adjustable image size variation. As a result of the gain feature and zero absorption, this system is anticipated to be more suitable from the perspective of application. This analysis may pave the way for further research into the Talbot effect's nonlinear and quantum dynamical properties. Also, it provide a non‐destructive, lensless method for imaging very cold atoms or molecules.

Single-shot vector magnetic measurements using synchronous coherent population trapping resonance in a feedback compensation system

We demonstrate a real-time, single-shot vector magnetic measurement technique using synchronous coherent population trapping (SCPT) in an apparatus consisting of a small rubidium vapor cell. Vector modality of our magnetometer is enabled by designing a feedback system based on performing a peak-lock on a particularly strong 2ΩL magnetic resonance produced in the SCPT spectrum and compensating the external magnetic field via a three-axis field coil. With its current design, this magnetometer exhibits high sensitivities of approximately 155, 129, and 57pT/Hz in measuring the magnetic field vector components along the (x,y,z) axes. Sensitivities closer to the shot-noise limit can be achieved in the future by reducing the technical noise of our equipment and by employing a differential detection and polarization rotation measurement scheme in our system.

Interferometry-Integrated Noise-Immune Quantum Memory.

A quantum memory with the performances of low noise, high efficiency, and high bandwidth is of crucial importance for developing practical quantum information technologies. However, the excess noises generated during the highly efficient processing of quantum information inevitably destroy quantum state. Here, we present a quantum memory with built-in excess-noise eraser by integrating a photon-correlated quantum interferometry in quantum memory, where the memory efficiency can be enhanced and the excess noises can be suppressed to the vacuum level via destructive interference. This quantum memory is demonstrated in a rubidium vapor cell with a 10-ns-long photonics signal. We observe ∼80% noise suppression, the write-in efficiency enhancement from 87% to 96.2% without and with interferometry, and the corresponding memory efficiency excluding the noises from 70% to 77%. The fidelity is 93.7% at the single-photon level, significantly exceeding the no-cloning limit. Such interferometry-integrated quantum memory, the first expansion of quantum interference techniques to quantum information processing, simultaneously enables low noise, high bandwidth, high efficiency, and easy operation.

Distant RF field sensing with a passive Rydberg-atomic transducer

We combine a rubidium vapor cell with a corner-cube prism reflector to form a passive RF transducer, allowing the detection of microwave signals at a location distant from the active components required for atomic sensing. This compact transducer has no electrical components and is optically linked to an active base station by a pair of free-space laser beams that establish an electromagnetically induced transparency scenario. Microwave signals at the transducer location are imprinted onto an optical signal which is detected at the base station. Our sensing architecture with a remote standalone transducer unit adds important flexibility to Rydberg-atom based sensing technologies, which are currently subject to significant attention. We demonstrate a ∼30 m link with no particular effort and foresee significant future prospects of achieving a much larger separation between the transducer and the base station.

Exclusive Effect in Rydberg Atom-Based Multi-Band Microwave Communication

We have demonstrated a Rydberg atom-based two-band communication with the optically excited Rydberg state coupled to another pair of Rydberg states by two microwave fields, respectively. The initial Rydberg state is excited by a three-color electromagnetically-induced absorption in rubidium vapor cell via cascading transitions, with all of them located in infrared bands: a 780 nm laser servers as a probe to monitor the optical transmittancy via transition 5S1/2→5P3/2, 776 nm and 1260 nm lasers are used to couple the states 5P3/2 and 5D5/2 and states 5D5/2 and 44F7/2. Experimentally, we show that two channel communications carried on the two microwave transitions influence each other irreconcilably, so that they cannot work at their most sensitive microwave-optical conversion points simultaneously. For a remarkable communication quality for both channels, the two microwave fields both have to make concessions to reach a common microwave-optical gain. The optimized balance for the two microwave intensities locates at EMW1=6.5 mV/cm and EMW2=5.5 mV/cm in our case. This mutual exclusive influence is theoretically well-explained by an optical Bloch equation considering all optical and microwave field interactions with atoms.

Proposal for an active whispering-gallery microclock

Optical atomic clocks with compact size, reduced weight and low power consumption have broad out-of-the-lab applications such as satellite-based geo-positioning and communication engineering. Here, we propose an active optical microclock based on the lattice-trapped atoms evanescently interacting with a whispering-gallery-mode microcavity. Unlike the conventional passive clock scheme, the active operation directly produces the optical frequency standard without the need of extra laser stabilization, substantially simplifying the clock configuration. The numerical simulation illustrates that the microclock’s frequency stability reaches at 1 s of averaging, over one order of magnitude better than the recently demonstrated chip-scale optical clock that is built upon rubidium vapor cell and also more stable than current cesium fountain clocks and hydrogen masers. Our work extends the chip-scale clocks to the active fashion, paving the way towards the on-chip quantum micro-metrology, for example, the optical frequency comparison and synchronization between multiple microclocks through frequency microcombs.

Atom-based sensing technique of microwave electric and magnetic fields via a single rubidium vapor cell.

We present an atom-based approach for determining microwave electric and magnetic fields by using a single rubidium vapor cell in a microwave waveguide. For a 87Rb cascade three-level system employed in our experiment, a weak probe laser driving the lower transition, 5S1/2→5P3/2, is first used to measure the microwave magnetic field based on the atomic Rabi resonance. When a counter-propagating strong coupling laser is subsequently turned on to drive the Rydberg transition, 5P3/2→67D5/2, the same probe laser is then used as a Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) probe to measure the microwave electric field by investigating the resonant microwave dressed Autler-Townes splitting (ATS). By tuning the hyperfine transition frequency of the ground state using an experimentally feasible static magnetic field, we first achieved a measurement of the microwave electric and magnetic field strength at the same microwave frequency of 6.916 GHz. Based on the ideal relationship between the electric and magnetic field components, we obtained the equivalent microwave magnetic fields by fitting the inversion to the measured microwave electric fields, which demonstrated that the results were in agreement with the experimental measurement of the microwave magnetic fields in the same microwave power range. This study provides new experimental evidence for quantum-based microwave measurements of electric and magnetic fields by a single sensor in the same system.

A Multi-Pass Optically Pumped Rubidium Atomic Magnetometer with Free Induction Decay.

A free-induction-decay (FID) type optically-pumped rubidium atomic magnetometer driven by a radio-frequency (RF) magnetic field is presented in this paper. Influences of parameters, such as the temperature of rubidium vapor cell, the power of pump beam, and the strength of RF magnetic field and static magnetic field on the amplitude and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the FID signal, have been investigated in the time domain and frequency domain. At the same time, the sensitivities of the magnetometer for the single-pass and the triple-pass probe beam cases have been compared by changing the optical path of the interaction between probe beam and atomic ensemble. Compared with the sensitivity of ∼21.2 pT/ in the case of the single-pass probe beam, the amplitude of FID signal in the case of the triple-pass probe beam has been significantly enhanced, and the sensitivity has been improved to ∼13.4 pT/. The research in this paper provids a reference for the subsequent study of influence of different buffer gas pressure on the FWHM and also a foundation for further improving the sensitivity of FID rubidium atomic magnetometer by employing a polarization-squeezed light as probe beam, to achieve a sensitivity beyond the photo-shot-noise level.

Laser cleaning and Raman analysis of the contamination on the optical window of a rubidium vapor cell

In this work, we present the laser cleaning of a Rubidium vapor cell and the Raman analysis of the contaminant material to be removed. The optical window of the vapor cell had gradually lost transparency due to the development of an opaque layer of unknown composition at the inner side during the normal operation of the cell. Laser cleaning was successfully performed by a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser focusing the beam inside the cell, avoiding any possible damage to the window. A single laser pulse was enough to clear away the black discoloration at the focal spot and locally restore the transparency of the window. The Raman spectra of the deposit showed peaks not yet described in the literature. Comparison with known Rubidium germanate spectra and simulation results strongly suggested that the unknown material was Rubidium silicate.

Optically end-pumped scheme in rubidium vapor: Theory and experiment

The optimal detuning of the pump light at the rubidium D2 line is calculated and experimentally validated. A three-level optically end-pumped model in a hot rubidium vapor cell is demonstrated, which takes into account the hyperfine structure of the ground state, various collisional processes, and the nonlinear absorption of the pump light along the cell length. By developing a constrained optimization model, we calculate the optimal detuning of the pump light that maximizes the average excited state atom concentration in the cell. Experimentally, a 1529 nm probe light at higher levels, which is attenuated to the weak-probe limit, is introduced to accurately characterize the excited state atom concentration. Coupling with the experimental results, the variation of the pump light optimal detuning with the temperature and the pump light intensity at the unsaturated pumping is analyzed. At the optimal detuning point, the theoretical decay function of the pump light percentage along the vapor cell length almost coincides regardless of the temperature and the pump light intensity changes. Moreover, the theoretical fitted pump light decay function at optimal detuning is predicted. The fitted pump light percentage exiting the vapor cell is 4.75%. A fast implementation method to achieve the maximal average excited state atom concentration in the experiment is demonstrated.

Employing spin noise spectroscopy of rubidium ensemble to calibrate Hall magnetometers when measuring weak magnetic fields

Accuracy, deviation, and zero points drifting of commercial Hall magnetometers are important limiting factors and need to be calibrated, especially for measuring weak magnetic fields at micro Tesla level. Here, we present that measurement and characterization of spin noise spectroscopy (SNS) with a rubidium atomic ensemble under good magnetic shielding condition and its application for calibration of commercial Hall magnetometers. Obtaining SNS with narrow linewidth and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is crucial to improve the accuracy of calibration. In experiment, we measured SNS with a rubidium vapor cell coated with paraffin on the inner wall, analyzed SNS signals and linewidth with different probe intensity and probe frequency detuning, and optimized these parameters for reducing the errors. Under different transverse magnetic fields generated by magnetic coils driven by an ultra-low noise and high-precision constant current source, SNS signals of rubidium atomic ensemble are measured. Corresponding Larmor frequency can be derived by fitting SNS signal, therefore transverse magnetic fields can be calibrated. We compared the transverse magnetic fields calibrated by SNS with those measured by the Hall magnetometer, analyzed the deviation and accuracy, and obtained calibration factor of commercial Hall magnetometer we used. This method is very simple and easily implemented, and can also be extended to calibrate commercial fluxgate magnetometers.

Modulation Transfer Spectroscopy of a four-level ladder system in atomic rubidium

We demonstrate Modulation Transfer Spectroscopy for a four-level ladder-configuration system in atomic rubidium that probes Rydberg states. Three lasers at wavelengths of 780 nm (probe), 1529 nm (dressing), and ∼700 nm (coupling) drive the 5S1/2→5P3/2→4D3/2→nF5/2 excitation path, with the first two lasers independently frequency-locked to their respective atomic resonances. To observe modulation transfer that involves the uppermost step, we apply frequency sidebands to the coupling laser with an electro-optic modulator before overlapping all three beams in a rubidium vapor cell. Within the cell, the probe beam efficiently acquires sidebands at the modulation frequency through a nonlinear mixing process that occurs when the coupling beam is tuned to atomic resonance. The transmitted probe beam is focused onto a fast photodiode; the phase of the resulting beat note exhibits a derivative-like response. We demonstrate that this response can be obtained with relatively low laser powers and use it as an error signal to limit the relative frequency drift of the coupling laser to ∼30 kHz on the timescale of hours.

Parametric Study of CPT Resonance in Rubidium Vapor Cell for Application in Atomic Clock

The performance of Coherent Population Trapping (CPT) based atomic clocks primarily depends on the characteristics of CPT resonance. We have performed experiments to study and optimize the characteristics of CPT resonance in 87Rb atoms by measuring its contrast and full-width-at-half maximum (FWHM) as function of laser excitation and temperature of atomic vapor cells with different dimensions. A four-level atomic model is used to simulate CPT resonance characteristics along the length of atomic vapor cell. The model incorporates scaling law to understand collision dynamics in cells with different radius for a range of laser excitation intensities and the results are compared with experimental data. The quality figure, calculated from the measured values of FWHM and contrast, decreases with increase in laser intensity and improves in cells with higher dimension (radius). The optimum temperature corresponding to maximum quality figure varies with laser excitation intensity as well as cell dimension. The underlying collision dynamics and density effects that are responsible for the observed resonance characteristics are discussed.

Optical Relaxation Phenomena in a Rubidium Vapor Cell with an Antirelaxation Coating under Bichromatic Laser Irradiation

Optical Relaxation Phenomena in a Rubidium Vapor Cell with an Antirelaxation Coating under Bichromatic Laser Irradiation

Microwave-field sensing via electromagnetically induced absorption of Rb irradiated by three-color infrared lasers.

A microwave electric field sensing has been set up based on a three-color electromagnetically induced absorption in rubidium vapor cell via cascading transitions. All transitions are irradiated by infrared lasers: a 780 nm laser servers as probe to monitor the optical transmittancy via transition 5S1/2→P3/2;, a 776 nm laser and a 1260 nm laser are used to couple the states 5P3/2 and 5D5/2 and states 5D5/2 and 44F7/2, respectively. We find that a frequency detuning ∼2π × ( - 40) MHz of the 776 nm dressing beam prefers to a better signal-to-noise ratio for the probe beam. The off-resonance greatly depresses the double resonance pumping effect. A demonstration measurement for the electric field of microwave 1.18988 GHz, corresponding to the coupling resonance between two adjacent Rydberg states 44F7/2 and 44F9/2, gives a sensitivity of 55.79(23)nVcm-1/Hz and a smallest discernible electric field of 78.9(33) nVcm-1 in time scale of 500 ms.

Transient Density-Induced Dipolar Interactions in a Thin Vapor Cell.

We exploit the effect of light-induced atomic desorption to produce high atomic densities (n≫k^{3}) in a rubidium vapor cell. An intense off-resonant laser is pulsed for roughly one nanosecond on a micrometer-sized sapphire-coated cell, which results in the desorption of atomic clouds from both internal surfaces. We probe the transient atomic density evolution by time-resolved absorption spectroscopy. With a temporal resolution of ≈ 1 ns, we measure the broadening and line shift of the atomic resonances. Both broadening and line shift are attributed to dipole-dipole interactions. This fast switching of the atomic density and dipolar interactions could be the basis for future quantum devices based on the excitation blockade.

Violation of high-dimensional Bell inequality using narrowband orbital-angular-momentum entanglement from warm atomic vapor

Narrowband biphotons from an atomic ensemble are an extraordinary source for quantum information science. The generation of biphotons in the warm atomic system has many applicable prospects for its simplicity, stability, and compactness. In this article we experimentally demonstrate the generation of biphotons from the spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) process in a warm rubidium vapor cell. By performing high-dimensional Bell-type measurements and mutually unbiased measurements, we maximally obtain a three-dimensional orbital-angular-momentum discrete-variable (DV) entangled state. The violation of high-dimensional Bell inequalities shows the great potential of warm atomic systems in generating DV high-dimensional entanglement. Such narrowband photon pairs may find applications in quantum-memory-based quantum communication networks. Through integration with the continuous-variable (CV) entanglement already existing in the same SFWM platform, our results here pave the way to construct atomic-ensemble-based DV-CV hybrid quantum information protocols.