Probing molecules in gas cells of subwavelength thickness with high frequency resolution

Abstract

Miniaturizing and integrating atomic vapor cells is widely investigated for the purposes of fundamental measurements and technological applications such as quantum sensing. Extending such platforms to the realm of molecular physics is a fascinating prospect that paves the way for compact frequency metrology as well as for exploring light-matter interactions with complex quantum objects. Here, we perform molecular rovibrational spectroscopy in a thin-cell of micrometric thickness, comparable to excitation wavelengths. We operate the cell in two distinct regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, probing ${\nu }_1$+${\nu }_3$ resonances of acetylene at 1.530$\mu$m, within the telecommunications wavelength range, as well as the ${\nu }_3$ and ${\nu }_2$ resonances of $S{F}_6$ and $N{H}_3$ respectively, in the mid-infrared fingerprint region around 10.55$\mu$m. Thin-cell confinement allows linear sub-Doppler transmission spectroscopy due to the coherent Dicke narrowing effect, here demonstrated for molecular rovibrations. Our experiment can find applications extending to the fields of compact molecular frequency references, atmospheric physics or fundamental precision measurements.

published in Nature Communications

References in corpus (8)

• Measurement of the Temperature Dependence of the Casimir-Polder Force
• Casimir-Polder forces in the presence of thermally excited surface modes
• Nano-structured alkali-metal vapor cells
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• Transient Density-Induced Dipolar Interactions in a Thin Vapor Cell
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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Selective reflection Casimir-Polder spectroscopy in vapor cells: the influence of the thermal velocity distribution