Journal article

Sub-Doppler bandwidth atomic optical filter

LD Turner, V Karaganov, PJO Teubner, RE Scholten

OPTICS LETTERS | OPTICAL SOC AMER | Published : 2002

Abstract

We demonstrate what is to our knowledge the first atomic optical filter that uses velocity selection to achieve a passband width that is less than the Doppler width of the filtering transition. A narrow-linewidth pump laser is used to induce circular birefringence in a narrow velocity class of atoms in a dense potassium vapor for 694-nm light resonant with the 4P(3/2)-6S(1/2) transition. The filter displays a single 170-MHz passband at a peak transmittance of 9.5%. The bandwidth is an order of magnitude lower than that of previously demonstrated atomic optical filters.

University of Melbourne Researchers