TY - JOUR

T1 - Hyperfine interaction in the Autler-Townes effect

T2 - The formation of bright, dark, and chameleon states

AU - Kirova, T.

AU - Cinins, A.

AU - Efimov, D. K.

AU - Bruvelis, M.

AU - Miculis, K.

AU - Bezuglov, N. N.

AU - Auzinsh, M.

AU - Ryabtsev, I. I.

AU - Ekers, A.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2017 American Physical Society.

PY - 2017/10/26

Y1 - 2017/10/26

N2 - This paper is devoted to clarifying the implications of hyperfine (HF) interaction in the formation of adiabatic (i.e., "laser-dressed") states and their expression in the Autler-Townes (AT) spectra. We first use the Morris-Shore model [J. R. Morris and B. W. Shore, Phys. Rev. A 27, 906 (1983)PLRAAN1050-294710.1103/PhysRevA.27.906] to illustrate how bright and dark states are formed in a simple reference system where closely spaced energy levels are coupled to a single state with a strong laser field with the respective Rabi frequency ΩS. We then expand the simulations to realistic hyperfine level systems in Na atoms for a more general case when non-negligible HF interaction can be treated as a perturbation in the total system Hamiltonian. A numerical analysis of the adiabatic states that are formed by coupling of the 3p3/2 and 4d5/2 states by the strong laser field and probed by a weak laser field on the 3s1/2-3p3/2 transition yielded two important conclusions. Firstly, the perturbation introduced by the HF interaction leads to the observation of what we term "chameleon" states - states that change their appearance in the AT spectrum, behaving as bright states at small to moderate ΩS, and fading from the spectrum similarly to dark states when ΩS is much larger than the HF splitting of the 3p3/2 state. Secondly, excitation by the probe field from two different HF levels of the ground state allows one to address orthogonal sets of adiabatic states; this enables, with appropriate choice of ΩS and the involved quantum states, a selective excitation of otherwise unresolved hyperfine levels in excited electronic states.

AB - This paper is devoted to clarifying the implications of hyperfine (HF) interaction in the formation of adiabatic (i.e., "laser-dressed") states and their expression in the Autler-Townes (AT) spectra. We first use the Morris-Shore model [J. R. Morris and B. W. Shore, Phys. Rev. A 27, 906 (1983)PLRAAN1050-294710.1103/PhysRevA.27.906] to illustrate how bright and dark states are formed in a simple reference system where closely spaced energy levels are coupled to a single state with a strong laser field with the respective Rabi frequency ΩS. We then expand the simulations to realistic hyperfine level systems in Na atoms for a more general case when non-negligible HF interaction can be treated as a perturbation in the total system Hamiltonian. A numerical analysis of the adiabatic states that are formed by coupling of the 3p3/2 and 4d5/2 states by the strong laser field and probed by a weak laser field on the 3s1/2-3p3/2 transition yielded two important conclusions. Firstly, the perturbation introduced by the HF interaction leads to the observation of what we term "chameleon" states - states that change their appearance in the AT spectrum, behaving as bright states at small to moderate ΩS, and fading from the spectrum similarly to dark states when ΩS is much larger than the HF splitting of the 3p3/2 state. Secondly, excitation by the probe field from two different HF levels of the ground state allows one to address orthogonal sets of adiabatic states; this enables, with appropriate choice of ΩS and the involved quantum states, a selective excitation of otherwise unresolved hyperfine levels in excited electronic states.

KW - ATOMIC GAS

KW - LIGHT

KW - VAPOR

KW - LASER

KW - TRANSITIONS

KW - EXCITATION

KW - REDUCTION

KW - MOLECULES

KW - STORAGE

KW - FIELDS

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85032433025&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevA.96.043421

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevA.96.043421

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85032433025

VL - 96

JO - Physical Review A

JF - Physical Review A

SN - 2469-9926

IS - 4

M1 - 043421

ER -