Darmstadt 2008 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 29: Poster Quanteneffekte

Q 29.14: Poster

Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 16:30–19:00, Poster C2

Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP) in a Pr³⁺:Y₂SiO₅ crystal — •Fabian Beil, Jens Klein und Thomas Halfmann — Institute for Applied Physics, TU Darmstadt, Schlossgartenstr. 7, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany

STIRAP is a well-established, efficient and robust technique to manipulate population distributions in atoms and molecules. Among others, STIRAP found applications in optical data storage and quantum information processing. Experimental studies of STIRAP have been mainly constricted to media in the gas phase. However, it is solid media which are (due to their high density and scalability) of special interest for applications. Usually, ultra-fast decoherence processes in solids prevent the implementation of coherent excitations. This obstacle is overcome in rare earth ion doped inorganic crystals, which combine the advantages of solids and the coherent properties of atoms. We implemented STIRAP in a Pr³⁺:Y₂SiO₅ crystal (Pr:YSO). The experiment yielded striking data on complete adiabatic population transfer in a solid. Population is transferred between two hyperfine levels of the ³H₄ ground state of a selected ensemble of Pr³⁺ ions. Efficient transfer is observed for negative pulse delay (STIRAP) as well as for positive delay. The latter is due to an alternative adiabatic passage process, i.e.b-STIRAP, which is closely related to conventional STIRAP. We record the population dynamics for both adiabatic processes by time-resolved absorption measurements. In addition to the experimental investigations, we performed numerical simulations. The results are in good qualitative agreement with the experimental observations.