Question about power broadening

A
Thread starter kelly0303
Start date Jun 23, 2023

In summary, the conversation discusses the effects of atomic ensemble and laser linewidths on the interaction between the two. It is mentioned that using a laser with a fixed linewidth of 1 MHz on an atomic ensemble with a Doppler broadened linewidth of 10 MHz will result in a peak of 1 MHz linewidth, with only 10% of the atoms interacting with the laser. However, increasing the power of the laser will cause power broadening and increase the effective linewidth to 10 MHz, resulting in the laser interacting with all the atoms in the cell.

Jun 23, 2023

kelly0303

Hello! If I have an atomic ensemble (say in a cell) with a Doppler broadened linewidth of 10 MHz and I have a laser of fixed linewidth of 1 MHz. If I keep the laser frequency fixed on the center of the atomic transition (say that I measure the laser transmission), I would see a peak of 1 MHz linewidth, but only 10% of the atoms will interact with the laser (I assume that anything beyond 1 linewidth doesn't interact just to simplify the question). If I increase the power of the laser a lot, I will have power broadening. If that makes the effective linewidth 10 MHz, does it mean that now I would see a transmitted line of 10 MHz linewidth and the laser will interact with all the atoms in the cell? Thank you!