How to measure diffusional decoherence in multimode rubidium vapor memories?

Abstract

Diffusion is the main limitation of storage time in spatially multimode applications of warm atomic vapors. Precise knowledge of diffusional decoherence in the system is desired for designing most of vapor memory setups. Here we present a novel, efficient and direct method of measuring unbiased diffusional decoherence, clearly distinguished from all other decoherence sources. We found the normalized diffusion coefficients of rubidium atoms in noble gases to be as follows: neon 0.20 cm$^{2}$/s, krypton 0.068 cm$^{2}$/s and we are the first to give an experimental result for rubidium in xenon: 0.057 cm$^{2}$/s. Our method consists in creating, storing and retrieving spatially-varying atomic coherence. Raman scattering provides a necessary interface to the atoms that allows for probing many spatial periodicities of atomic coherence concurrently. As opposed to previous experiments the method can be used for any single sealed glass cell and it does not require any setup alterations during the measurements and therefore it is robust and repeatable.