Saturation effects in the sub-Doppler spectroscopy of cesium vapor confined in an extremely thin cell

Abstract

Saturation effects affecting absorption and fluorescence spectra of an atomic vapor confined in an extremely thin cell (cell thickness $L<1\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$) are investigated experimentally and theoretically. The study is performed on the ${D}_{2}$ line $(\ensuremath{\lambda}=852\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm})$ of Cs and concentrates on the two situations $L=\ensuremath{\lambda}∕2$ and $L=\ensuremath{\lambda}$, the most contrasted ones with respect to the length dependence of the coherent Dicke narrowing. For $L=\ensuremath{\lambda}∕2$, the Dicke-narrowed absorption profile simply broadens and saturates in amplitude when increasing the light intensity, while for $L=\ensuremath{\lambda}$, sub-Doppler dips of reduced absorption at the line-center appear on the broad absorption profile. For a fluorescence detection at $L=\ensuremath{\lambda}$, saturation induces narrow dips, but only for hyperfine components undergoing a population loss through optical pumping. These experimental results are interpreted with the help of the various existing models and are compared with numerical calculations based upon a two-level modeling that considers both a closed and an open system.