Experimental investigations of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage in a doped solid

We report on experimental investigations of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) in a Pr³⁺:Y₂SiO₅ crystal. STIRAP drives complete, coherent population transfer between two hyperfine levels in the Pr³⁺ ions. We investigate the variation of the STIRAP transfer efficiency with the experimental parameters: e.g., detunings, Rabi frequencies, and pulse delays. In addition, we also observe an alternative and efficient, adiabatic transfer process---i.e., b-STIRAP---which occurs for a reversed sequence of laser pulses. We compare the efficiencies and time-resolved transfer dynamics of STIRAP and b-STIRAP. The experimental data are supported by numerical simulations, also including the effect of laser frequency jitter. Our experimental data and the numerical simulations provide a clear and convincing demonstration of adiabatic excitations in a solid medium.