Atomic clocks and coherent population trapping: Experiments for undergraduate laboratories

作者：Belcher Nathan^*; Mikhailov Eugeniy E; Novikova Irina

来源：American Journal of Physics, 2009, 77(11): 988-998.

DOI：10.1119/1.3120262

• atomic clocks
• ground states
• hyperfine structure
• light coherence
• magnetometers
• microwave oscillators
• physics education
• population inversion
• radiation pressure
• rubidium
• self-induced transparency
• semiconductor lasers
• student experiments

We demonstrate how to construct and operate a simple and affordable apparatus for producing coherent effects in atomic vapor and for investigating their applications in time-keeping and magnetometry. The apparatus consists of a vertical cavity surface emitting diode laser directly current-modulated using a tunable microwave oscillator to produce multiple optical fields needed for the observation of coherent population trapping. This effect allows very accurate measurement of the transition frequency between two ground state hyperfine sublevels, which can be used to construct a coherent population trapping-based atomic clock.

• 出版日期2009-11