Rb optical resonance inside a random porous medium

TL;DR

This study investigates how rubidium atoms confined in a porous medium affect light resonance, revealing effects like diffusive propagation, fluorescence, and radiation trapping, with implications for understanding light-matter interactions in complex environments.

Contribution

It provides new insights into resonant laser interactions with Rb atoms in porous media, linking optical effects to sample porosity and atomic density.

Findings

Atomic absorption is nearly compensated by fluorescence at low densities.

Higher densities lead to increased radiation trapping and non-radiative decay.

A simple relation between fluorescence/absorption and porosity is established.

Abstract

We studied resonant laser interaction with Rb atoms confined to the interstitial cavities of a random porous glass. Due to diffusive light propagation, the effect of atomic absorption on the light scattered by the sample is almost entirely compensated by atomic fluorescence at low atomic densities. For higher densities, radiation trapping increases the probability of non-radiative decay via atom-wall collisions. A simple connection of the fluorescence/absorption yield to the sample porosity is given.