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Resolution enhancement in noise spectrum by using velocity selective optical pumping in cesium vapor

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Abstract

We demonstrate experimentally that the resolution of amplitude noise spectrum in Cs atomic vapor can be enhanced by narrowing the absorption using velocity selective optical pumping technique. It is found that the steep atomic dispersion accompanied by high absorption leads to more conversion of laser phase noise to amplitude noise, when the field propagates throughout the atoms, and meanwhile the spectral resolution is improved. The effect of optical pumping intensity on the spectrum resolution is experimentally discussed, and a theoretical explanation for this phenomenon is given, which shows that the phase-to-amplitude noise conversion is directly proportional to the dispersion of medium.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported in part by the NSFC (No. 10974126, 60821004), National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2010CB923102).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Opto-Electronics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, 030006, China

    Yuan Li, Dehuan Cai, Rong Ma, Dan Wang, Jiangrui Gao & Junxiang Zhang

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  1. Yuan Li
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  2. Dehuan Cai
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Correspondence to Junxiang Zhang.

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Li, Y., Cai, D., Ma, R. et al. Resolution enhancement in noise spectrum by using velocity selective optical pumping in cesium vapor. Appl. Phys. B 109, 189–194 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-012-5211-6

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