Microwave Power Standard using Cold Atoms

Abstract

We discuss how the observation of Rabi flopping oscillations in a laser cooled atomic sample could be used as a microwave power standard. The rubidium atoms are first trapped in a standard MOT, then optically pumped, and dropped. As they enter the interaction region, a resonant pulsed microwave field is applied. Following the interaction lasting up to 10 ms, a probe laser beam is turned on and the fluorescence measures the population inversion.