D. M. Segal

Resonant and off-resonant transients in electromagnetically induced transparency: Turn-on and turn-off dynamics

This paper presents a wide-ranging theoretical and experimental study of nonadiabatic transient phenomena in a L electromagnetically induced transparency system when a strong coupling field is rapidly switched on or off. The theoretical treatment uses a Laplace transform approach to solve the time-dependent density matrix equation. The experiments are carried out in a 87 Rb magneto-optical trap. The results show transient probe gain in parameter regions not previously studied, and provide insight into the transition dynamics between bare and dressed states.

Observations of a doubly driven V system probed to a fourth level in laser-cooled rubidium

Observations of a doubly driven V system probed to a fourth level in an N configuration are reported. A dressed-state analysis is also presented. The expected three-peak spectrum is explored in a cold rubidium sample in a magneto-optic trap. Good agreement is found between the dressed-state theory and the experimental spectra once light shifts and uncoupled absorptions in the rubidium system are taken into account.

Diffusion, thermalization, and optical pumping of YbF molecules in a cold buffer-gas cell

We produce YbF molecules with a density of 10{sup 18} m{sup -3} using laser ablation inside a cryogenically cooled cell filled with a helium buffer gas. Using absorption imaging and absorption spectroscopy we study the formation, diffusion, thermalization, and optical pumping of the molecules. The absorption images show an initial rapid expansion of molecules away from the ablation target followed by a much slower diffusion to the cell walls. We study how the time constant for diffusion depends on the helium density and temperature and obtain values for the YbF-He diffusion cross section at two different temperatures. We measure the translational and rotational temperatures of the molecules as a function of time since formation, obtain the characteristic time constant for the molecules to thermalize with the cell walls, and elucidate the process responsible for limiting this thermalization rate. Finally, we make a detailed study of how the absorption of the probe laser saturates as its intensity increases, showing that the saturation intensity is proportional to the helium density. We use this to estimate collision rates and the density of molecules in the cell.

Observation of transient gain without population inversion in a laser-cooled rubidium Lambda system

We have observed clear Rabi oscillations of a weak probe in a strongly driven three-level

Intensity-dependent dispersion under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency in coherently prepared multistate atoms

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Photon correlation measurement of ion oscillation frequencies in a combined trap

system in laser-cooled rubidium. When the coupling field is nonadiabatically switched on using a Pockels cell, transient probe gain without population inversion is obtained in the presence of uncoupled absorptions. Our results are supported by three-state computations.

Quantum optics with trapped and laser cooled magnesium ions

Interest in lossless nonlinearities has focussed on the dispersive properties of

Cooling Techniques for Trapped Ions

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Spectroscopy and quantum optics with ion traps

systems under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We generalize the

Investigation of ion dynamics in a Penning trap using a pulse-probe technique

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