Light Shift of Coherent Population Trapping Resonances in Cesium Vapor under the Laser Field with Dual Frequency–Amplitude Modulation

Abstract

In this study, the light shift of coherent population trapping (CPT) resonances is studied in a miniature glass cell (~0.1 cm³) filled with ¹³³Cs vapor. The atoms exposed to the radiation from a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). The laser current is modulated at a microwave frequency (≈4.6 GHz), which leads to the frequency modulation (FM) of output radiation. In addition, the light beam is transmitted through an electro-optic modulator (EOM), which is assembled as a Mach–Zehnder interferometer, acquiring amplitude modulation (AM). This dual (FM–AM) modulation leads to essentially nonlinear behavior of the function describing the light shift of the CPT resonance versus the total optical power in the cell. In particular, this function has an extremum that can be used to suppress the influence of small optical power variations in the cell on the stability of the CPT-based quantum frequency standard (QFS). The proposed scheme is characterized by a number of parameters such as the phase difference between the FM and AM signals as well as the bias voltage at EOM, which are additional degrees of freedom for controlling the behavior of the light shift of the CPT resonance. This can be used for the optimization of the QFS operation regime.