The temporal evolution of coherent population trapping (CPT) was observed in rubidium atomic vapor when sudden changes were made to the detuning of a weak Raman field. The subsequent creation and destruction of CPT are caused by the temporal oscillations of optically induced Raman coherence, with their period depending on the Raman detuning. The oscillating signal was observed over a time of order of tens of milliseconds, and the dependence of the relaxation time on the cell temperature and laser power were investigated. The main features of the experimental observations were well explained by the time-dependent density-matrix equations.

• Received 26 January 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.69.023806