2011/12/31 by L. Mudarikwa, K. Pahwa, J. Goldwin · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.atom-ph #physics.ins-det
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0953-4075/45/6/065002
published as J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 45, 065002 (2012) · 14 pages, 9 figures; published version, with changes according to referee responses
arxiv created 2012/05/02 · arxiv updated 2012/05/03
We study modulation spectroscopy of the potassium D2 transitions at 766.7 nm. The vapour pressure, controlled by heating a commercial reference cell, is optimized using conventional saturated absorption spectroscopy. Subsequent heterodyne detection yields sub-Doppler frequency discriminants suitable for stabilizing lasers in experiments with cold atoms. Comparisons are made between spectra obtained by direct modulation of the probe beam, and those using modulation transfer from the pump via nonlinear mixing. Finally, suggestions are made for further optimization of the signals.