https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2013-01996-6
Regular Article
The role of a dipole-coupled but not dipole-probed state in probe absorption with multilevel coupling
1 Institute of Physics, University of Zielona Góra, ul. Prof. Szafrana 4a, 65-516 Zielona Góra, Poland
2 Institute of Physics, Pomeranian University in Słupsk, ul. Arciszewskiego 22b, 76-200 Słupsk, Poland
3 Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland
4 Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1784 Sofia, 72 Tsarigradsko Chaussee, Bulgaria
a e-mail: glodz@ifpan.edu.pl
Received: 8 June 2013
Revised: 9 August 2013
Published online: 23 October 2013
We study the impact on weak-probe spectra from the presence of a state for which the electric-dipole transition is allowed for coupling but forbidden for probing. Such is the 85Rb 2P3/2(F′ = 1) state, providing D2-line hfs transitions in Λ-configurations are considered with the 52S1/2(F = 2) and 52S1/2(F = 3) states in the role of the ground-states for coupling and probing, respectively. The multilevel EIT/Autler-Townes spectra were simulated with coupling field frequency fixed at various values in the range encompassing the atomic resonances. Collisionless (cold) atoms are assumed, and all decoherence rates, other than those related to the natural decay rates, are neglected. The general conclusion is that a state which is not directly involved in probe absorption can still considerably shape absorption spectra (due to multiphoton transitions), and its influence (negative for some applications) has to be carefully considered, even for the coupling-field-induced Rabi frequency values not exceeding the natural linewidth. A particular attention is paid to how the F′ = 1 state effects the narrow resonances, such as those of EIT origin or a “distant wing” of the Autler-Townes splitting, because resonances of these types are of interest, e.g., for developing quantum memory protocols [Sheremet et al., PRA82 (2010) 033838].
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2013
