An optical isolator using an atomic vapor in the hyperfine Paschen-Back regime

TL;DR

This paper presents a compact optical isolator utilizing atomic vapor in the hyperfine Paschen-Back regime, demonstrating high isolation and transmission efficiency with experimental and theoretical agreement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel optical isolator design based on atomic vapor in the hyperfine Paschen-Back regime with experimental validation.

Findings

Achieved 30 dB isolation with >95% transmission.

Demonstrated C4/4 rotation near the D2 line.

Experimental results closely match theoretical predictions.

Abstract

A light, compact optical isolator using an atomic vapor in the hyperfine Paschen-Back regime is presented. Absolute transmission spectra for experiment and theory through an isotopically pure 87Rb vapor cell show excellent agreement for fields of 0.6 T. We show \pi/4 rotation for a linearly polarized beam in the vicinity of the D2 line and achieve an isolation of 30 dB with a transmission > 95 %.