Continuous generation of Rubidium vapor in hollow-core photonic band-gap fibers

TL;DR

This paper reports the successful continuous generation of high-density Rubidium vapor in hollow-core photonic band-gap fibers, significantly improving operation duration and enabling advanced quantum measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a method for sustained Rubidium vapor generation in fibers, primarily via thermal vaporization, with potential for single-photon level measurements.

Findings

Achieved high optical depths lasting hours

Vapor generation mainly due to thermal vaporization

Enabled longer-term quantum measurement possibilities

Abstract

We demonstrate high optical depths (50+/-5), lasting for hours in Rubidium-filled hollow-core photonic band-gap fibers, which represents a 1000X improvement over operation times previously reported. We investigate the vapor generation mechanism using both a continuous-wave and a pulsed light source and find that the mechanism for generating the Rubidium atoms is primarily due to thermal vaporization. Continuous generation of large vapor densities should enable measurements at the single-photon level by averaging over longer time scales.