Coherent population trapping resonances with linearly polarized light for all-optical miniature atomic clocks

TL;DR

This paper investigates the use of linearly polarized light to generate high-contrast CPT resonances in 87Rb atoms, demonstrating potential for compact atomic clocks and methods to cancel light shifts.

Contribution

It provides a combined theoretical and experimental analysis of CPT resonances with linearly polarized light, showing high contrast and light shift cancellation for miniature atomic clocks.

Findings

Achieved up to 25% resonance contrast

Demonstrated cancellation of first-order light shift

Theoretical predictions agree with experimental results

Abstract

We present a joint theoretical and experimental characterization of the coherent population trapping (CPT) resonance excited on the D1 line of 87Rb atoms by bichromatic linearly polarized laser light. We observe high-contrast transmission resonances (up to 25%), which makes this excitation scheme promising for miniature all-optical atomic clock applications. We also demonstrate cancellation of the first-order light shift by proper choice of the frequencies and relative intensities of the two laser field components. Our theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the experimental results.