Toward Coherent Excitation: Development of a Single-Source Pump for the Rubidium Hyperfine Ground State Doublet.
Abstract
Coherent excitation is a phenomenon which, if achieved, could provide a new tool for the investigation of many fundamental questions in atomic physics and quantum optics. A design which could produce such coherences could lead to applications as varied as lasing without inversion and electromagnetically induced transparency. In this thesis, the basic theory concerning the generation of coherent superpositions of the ground states of atomic rubidium is reviewed. Next, the design, construction, and testing of a Littrow-style grating-tuned laser and a standing wave electro-optic modulator used in generating sidebands at the frequency matching the rubidium hyperfine ground state doublet are described. An experiment demonstrating simultaneous absorption by the 85Rb F=2 and 85Rb F=3 using a single laser as the pump is chronicled. An experiment to test coherences generated by this method of single-source pumping of the ground state doublet is proposed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1994
- Accession Number
- ADA289413
Entities
People
- Edward B. Tomme
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology