Measurement of the Kerr nonlinear refractive index of Cs vapor

Abstract

Atomic vapors are systems well suited for nonlinear optics studies but very few direct measurements of their nonlinear refractive index have been reported. Here we use the z-scan technique to measure the Kerr coefficient, $n_2$, for a Cs vapor. Our results are analyzed through a four-level model, and we show that coherence between excited levels as well as cross-population effects contribute to the Kerr-nonlinearity.

16 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Absolute absorption on the rubidium D lines: comparison between theory and experiment
• Laser stabilization to an atomic transition using an optically generated dispersive lineshape
• Two-beam nonlinear Kerr effect to stabilize laser frequency with sub-Doppler resolution