TY - JOUR

T1 - Hyperfine interaction in the Autler-Townes effect: Control of two-photon selection rules in the Morris-Shore basis

AU - Cinins, Arturs

AU - Efimov, Dmitry K.

AU - Bruvelis, Martins

AU - Miculis, Kaspars

AU - Kirova, Teodora

AU - Bezuglov, Nikolai N.

AU - Ryabtsev, Igor I.

AU - Auzinsh, Marcis

AU - Ekers, Aigars

PY - 2024/6/18

Y1 - 2024/6/18

N2 - We investigated the absence of certain bright peaks in Autler-Townes laser excitation spectra of alkali metal atoms. Our research revealed that these dips in the spectra are caused by a specific architecture of adiabatic (or ``laser-dressed'') states in hyperfine (HF) components. The dressed states' analysis pinpointed several cases where constructive and destructive interference between HF excitation pathways in a two-photon excitation scheme limits the available two-photon transitions. This results in a reduction of the conventional two-photon selection rule for the total angular momentum $F$, from $\Delta F= 0,\pm 1$ to $\Delta F\equiv 0$. Our discovery presents practical methods for selectively controlling the populations of unresolvable HF $F$-components of $ns_{1/2}$ Rydberg states in alkali metal atoms. Using numerical simulations with sodium and rubidium atoms, we demonstrate that by blocking the effects of HF interaction with a specially tuned auxiliary control laser field, the deviations from the ideal selectivity of the HF components population can be lower than $0.01\%$ for Na and $0.001\%$ for Rb atoms.

AB - We investigated the absence of certain bright peaks in Autler-Townes laser excitation spectra of alkali metal atoms. Our research revealed that these dips in the spectra are caused by a specific architecture of adiabatic (or ``laser-dressed'') states in hyperfine (HF) components. The dressed states' analysis pinpointed several cases where constructive and destructive interference between HF excitation pathways in a two-photon excitation scheme limits the available two-photon transitions. This results in a reduction of the conventional two-photon selection rule for the total angular momentum $F$, from $\Delta F= 0,\pm 1$ to $\Delta F\equiv 0$. Our discovery presents practical methods for selectively controlling the populations of unresolvable HF $F$-components of $ns_{1/2}$ Rydberg states in alkali metal atoms. Using numerical simulations with sodium and rubidium atoms, we demonstrate that by blocking the effects of HF interaction with a specially tuned auxiliary control laser field, the deviations from the ideal selectivity of the HF components population can be lower than $0.01\%$ for Na and $0.001\%$ for Rb atoms.

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/770cb525-69fb-3f48-b65b-5af1e33e6f91/

U2 - 10.1103/physreva.109.063116

DO - 10.1103/physreva.109.063116

M3 - Article

VL - 109

JO - Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

JF - Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

SN - 1050-2947

IS - 6

M1 - 063116

ER -