Nonlinear laser spectroscopy and magneto-optics

摘要

An experiment on nonlinear laser spectroscopy and magneto-optics at the Advanced Undergraduate Laboratory at Berkeley is described. The experiment consists of three parts. In the first part, students learn to operate a diode laser system and characterize its performance using a Fabry-Perot spectrum analyzer. In the second part, Doppler-broadened laser-induced fluorescence and Doppler-free saturated absorption spectra of the rubidium D-2 line (780 nm) are recorded and analyzed. Finally, in the third part of the experiment, which we describe in greater detail, the near-resonant magneto-optical rotation is investigated. Nonlinear light-atom interaction leads to spectacular manifestations of the resonant Faraday effect-polarization plane rotation in a magnetic field applied along the direction of light propagation radically different from the linear case. In particular, narrow (similar to 30 Hz) effective line widths are observed in this experiment corresponding to a rotation enhancement by some seven orders of magnitude compared to the linear Faraday rotation. (C) 1999 American Association of Physics Teachers. [References: 46]