Comparison of 87Rb N-resonances for D1 and D2 transitions.
We report an experimental comparison of three-photon-absorption resonances (N-resonances) for the D1 and D2 optical transitions of thermal (87)Rb vapor. We find that the D2 N-resonance has better contrast, a broader linewidth, and a more symmetric line shape than the D1 N-resonance. Taken together, these factors imply superior performance for frequency standards operating on alkali D2 N-resonances, in contrast with coherent population trapping resonances, for which the D2 transition provides poorer frequency standard performance than the D1 transition.
Novikova
Irina
I
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusettes 02138, USA. inovikova@cfa.harvard.edu
Phillips
David F
DF
Zibrov
Alexander S
AS
Walsworth
Ronald L
RL
Taichenachev
Aleksei V
AV
Yudin
Valeriy I
VI