We report a simple method to suppress the light shift in optical pumping systems. This method uses only frequency modulation of a radio frequency or microwave source, which is used to excite an atomic resonance, to simultaneously lock the source frequency to the atomic resonance and lock the pumping light frequency to suppress the light shift. We experimentally validate the method in a vapor-ce...

Optical pumping by blackbody radiation is a feature shared by all polar molecules and fundamentally limits the time that these molecules can be kept in a single quantum state in a trap. To demonstrate and quantify this, we have monitored the optical pumping of electrostatically trapped OH and OD radicals by room-temperature blackbody radiation. Transfer of these molecules to rotationally excite...

This paper reports the first experimental demonstration of an optically pumped electron spin filter. Unpolarized electrons produced in a cold-cathode discharge drift through a mixture of spin-polarized Rb and a nitrogen or helium buffer gas. Through spin-exchange collisions with the Rb, the drifting electrons become polarized along the optical pumping axis. We study the role of the buffer gas i...

We report a systematic study of thermal effects in photonic crystal membrane lasers based on line-defect cavities. Two material platforms, InGaAsP and InP, are investigated experimentally and numerically. Lasers with quantum dot layers embedded in an InP membrane exhibit lasing at room temperature under CW optical pumping, whereas InGaAsP membranes only lase under pulsed conditions. By varying ...

Recently, the world's first room-temperature maser was demonstrated. The maser consisted of a sapphire ring housing a crystal of pentacene-doped p-terphenyl, pumped by a pulsed rhodamine-dye laser. Stimulated emission of microwaves was aided by the high quality factor and small magnetic mode volume of the maser cavity yet the peak optical pumping power was 1.4 kW. Here we report dramatic miniat...

Excited state lifetimes of C60/toluene solution and C60 films macromolecular were measured by pump-probe method. Relation between optical switching effect of material and pulse width of pumping field is briefly described. It is found that the faster switching speed of light is, the triplet state lifetime is shorter. A He-Ne laser, as a probe, passed through the sample in the pump-probe experime...

In this thesis, I study optical pumping as a powerful cooling tool for trapped ultra-cold atoms in a highly collisional regime. First application of optical pumping is a continuous loading scheme used to transfer atoms from a guided beam into a hybrid trap. Further, I introduce a Sisyphus cooling scheme based on radio-frequency transitions and optical pumping, operating simultaneously to the ac...

The Zeeman splittings of the hyperfine structure of rubidium as well as the ambient geomagnetic field are investigated by using an optical pumping apparatus. The frequencies of Zeeman transitions are proportional to the magnetic field applied; using this, the ambient geomagnetic field is found to be B = ((37.755±0.025)ex+(5.5179±0.0030)ey +(19.15±0.06st±0.67sy)ez) ·10−6 T, compared to an accept...

We have investigated a new radiation pressure trap which relies on optical pumping and does not require any magnetic field. It employs six circularly polarized divergent beams and works on the red of a Jg −→ Je = Jg + 1 atomic transition with Jg ≥ 1/2. We have demonstrated this trap with cesium atoms from a vapour cell using the 852 nm Jg = 4 −→ Je = 5 resonance transition. The trap contained u...