Coherent-Population-Trapping Resonances with Linearly Polarized Light for All-Optical Miniature Atomic Clocks

Abstract

We present a joint theoretical and experimental characterization of the coherent population trapping (CPT) resonance excited on the \(D_1\) line of \(^{87}Rb\) atoms by bichromatic linearly polarized laser light. We observe high-contrast transmission resonances (up to ≈25%), which makes this excitation scheme promising for miniature all-optical atomic clock applications. We also demonstrate cancellation of the first-order light shift by proper choice of the frequencies and relative intensities of the two laser-field components. Our theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the experimental results.