Modulation spectroscopy of coherent population trapping resonance and light shifts

Abstract

We develop a theory of modulation response of the coherent population trapping (CPT) resonance. We consider the simplest three-level atom, but take into account the polychromatic spectrum of the pumping and probing light produced by pure FM modulation of single frequency field. The analysis based on the density matrix equations rigorously includes the most important for applications range of modulation parameters where modulation frequency and deviation are comparable with or greater than the CPT linewidth, so the response of the atomic medium is not adiabatic. Some theoretical results, in particular the possibility of using a quadrature response to modulation to suppress light shift, are compared with the experiment carried out with a diode laser (VCSEL) and 87Rb atoms.