Ramsey spectroscopy of high-contrast CPT resonances with push-pull optical pumping in Cs vapor

Xiaochi Liu (1) , Jean-Marc Merolla (1) , Stéphane Guérandel (2) , Emeric de Clercq (2) , Rodolphe Boudot (1)

1 FEMTO-ST - Franche-Comté Électronique Mécanique, Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies (UMR 6174)
2 LNE - SYRTE - Laboratoire national de métrologie et d'essais - Systèmes de Référence Temps-Espace

We report on the detection of high-contrast and narrow Coherent Population Trapping (CPT) Ramsey fringes in a Cs vapor cell using a simple-architecture laser system. The latter allows the combination of push-pull optical pumping (PPOP) and a temporal Ramsey-like pulsed interrogation. An originality of the optics package is the use of a single Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulator (MZ EOM) both for optical sidebands generation and light switch for pulsed interaction. Typical Ramsey fringes with a linewidth of 166 Hz and a contrast of 33 % are detected in a cm-scale buffer-gas filled Cs vapor cell. This technique could be interesting for the development of high-performance and low power consumption compact vapor cell clocks based on CPT.

Domaines: Electronique; Physique [physics]; Astrophysique [astro-ph]

Xiaochi Liu, Jean-Marc Merolla, Stéphane Guérandel, Emeric de Clercq, Rodolphe Boudot. Ramsey spectroscopy of high-contrast CPT resonances with push-pull optical pumping in Cs vapor. Optics Express, 2013, 21 (10), pp.12451 - 12459. ⟨10.1364/OE.21.012451⟩. ⟨hal-00919658⟩