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Phys. Rev. A 79, 032901 (2009) [14 pages]

Electric-field-induced change of the alkali-metal vapor density in paraffin-coated cells

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D. F. Jackson Kimball* and Khoa Nguyen†
Department of Physics, California State University-East Bay, Hayward, California 94542-3084, USA

K. Ravi, Arijit Sharma, Vaibhav S. Prabhudesai‡, and S. A. Rangwala
Raman Research Institute, Sadashivanagar, Bangalore 560080, India

V. V. Yashchuk
Advanced Light Source Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

M. V. Balabas
S. I. Vavilov State Optical Institute, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia

D. Budker
Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720-7300, USA and Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

Received 18 November 2008; published 3 March 2009

Alkali-metal vapor cells with antirelaxation coating (especially paraffin-coated cells) have been a central tool in optical pumping and atomic spectroscopy experiments for 50 years. We have discovered a dramatic change of the alkali-metal vapor density in a paraffin-coated cell upon application of an electric field to the cell. A systematic experimental characterization of the phenomenon is carried out for electric fields ranging in strength from 0–8 kV/cm for paraffin-coated cells containing rubidium and cells containing cesium. The typical response of the vapor density to a rapid (duration ≲100 ms) change in electric field of sufficient magnitude includes (a) a rapid (duration of ≲100 ms) and significant increase in alkali-metal vapor density followed by (b) a less rapid (duration of ∼1 s) and significant decrease in vapor density (below the equilibrium vapor density), and then (c) a slow (duration of ∼100 s) recovery of the vapor density to its equilibrium value. Measurements conducted after the alkali-metal vapor density has returned to its equilibrium value indicate minimal change (at the level of ≲10%) in the relaxation rate of atomic polarization. Experiments suggest that the phenomenon is related to an electric-field-induced modification of the paraffin coating.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.79.032901
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevA.79.032901
PACS:
34.35.+a, 73.61.Ph

*derek.jacksonkimball@csueastbay.edu

†Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Jose State University, San Jose, California 95192-0106.

‡Present address: Department of Physics and Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel 76100.

 
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