Cylindrical vector beams for rapid polarization-dependent measurements in atomic systems

Abstract

We demonstrate the use of cylindrical vector beams - beams with spatially varying polarization - for detecting and preparing the spin of a warm rubidium vapor in a spatially dependent manner. We show that a modified probe vector beam can serve as an atomic spin analyzer for an optically pumped medium, which spatially modulates absorption of the beam. We also demonstrate space-variant atomic spin by optical pumping with the vector beams. The beams are thus beneficial for making singleshot polarization-dependent measurements, as well as for providing a means of preparing samples with position-dependent spin.

8 pages, 5 figures. Accepted in Optics Express

References in corpus (4)

• Storing images in warm atomic vapor
• Hybrid-Entanglement in Continuous Variable Systems
• Direct acceleration of an electron in infinite vacuum by a pulsed radially-polarized laser beam
• Electromagnetically induced spatial light modulation

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