Université de Fribourg

Spectroscopy of atomic and molecular defects in solid ⁴He using optical, microwave, radio frequency, magnetic and electric fields

Moroshkin, Peter ; Hofer, Adrian ; Ulzega, Simone ; Weis, Antoine

In: Fizika Nizkikh Temperatur, 2006, vol. 32, no. 11, p. 1297-1319

A little more than a decade ago our team extended the field of defect spectroscopy in cryocrystals to solid ⁴He matrices, in both their body-centered cubic (bcc) and hexagonally close-packed (hcp) configurations. In this review paper we survey our pioneering activities in the field and compare our results to those obtained in the related fields of doped superfluid helium and doped helium...

Université de Fribourg

Theory of double resonance magnetometers based on atomic alignment

Weis, Antoine ; Bison, Georg ; Pazgalev, Anatoly S.

In: Physical Review A, 2006, p. 033401

We present a theoretical study of the spectra produced by optical–radio-frequency double resonance devices, in which resonant linearly polarized light is used in the optical pumping and detection processes. We extend previous work by presenting algebraic results which are valid for atomic states with arbitrary angular momenta, arbitrary rf intensities, and arbitrary geometries. The only...

Université de Fribourg

Comparison of discharge lamp and laser pumped cesium magnetometers

Groeger, Stefan ; Pazgalev, Anatoly S. ; Weis, Antoine

In: Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics, 2005, vol. 80(6), p. 645 - 654

We have performed a comparison of laser (LsOPM) and lamp (LpOPM) pumped cesium vapor magnetometers. Although the LsOPM operated 50% above its shot- noise limit we found an intrinsic sensitivity of 15 fT/√Hz and 25 fT/√Hz for the LsOPM and the LpOPM, respectively. Two modes of operation, viz. the phase-stabilized and the self-oscillating modes, were investigated and found to yield a similar...

Université de Fribourg

Laser-based precision magnetometry in fundamental and applied research

Weis, Antoine ; Wynands, Robert

In: Optics and Lasers in Engineering, 2005, vol. 43, p. 387-401

In this paper we review research done by the recently founded Fribourg group for Atomic Physics (FRAP) using laser-assisted spin coherence spectroscopy of atomic samples in applied and fundamental physics. Spin coherence in optically pumped ensembles of paramagnetic atoms may be extremely long-lived when the samples are well shielded from external perturbations, like static or oscillating...