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arXiv:2507.18353 · Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Experimental and theoretical characterisation of Stokes polarimetry of the potassium D1 line with neon buffer gas broadening

Sharaa A. Alqarni, Danielle Pizzey, Steven A. Wrathmall, Ifan G. Hughes

Published Nov 19, 2025• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract This study presents a comprehensive experimental and theoretical characterisation of Stokes polarimetry in potassium (K) vapour on the D1 line. Measurements were performed in the weak-probe regime, investigating the influence of neon buffer gas in the presence of an applied magnetic field in the Faraday geometry. While previous Stokes polarimetry studies in alkali-metal vapours have been conducted, the specific effects of buffer gas-induced broadening and shifts on the observed Stokes parameters remained largely underexplored. Here, experimental measurements of absolute absorption and dispersion were compared with a theoretical model for the electric susceptibility of the vapour, calculated using the established software package ElecSus . This work marks the first application of ElecSus to model buffer gas polarimetry of the potassium D1 line, with validation performed against experimental spectra for magnetic fields up to 1.2 kG. Our findings provide new insight into how the presence of buffer gas influences the observed Stokes parameters, thereby enhancing the predictive capabilities of theoretical frameworks for atom-light interactions in buffer-gas environments.

DOI
10.1088/1361-6455/ae216c

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Abstract We present a detailed study of the absolute Doppler-broadened absorption of a probe beam scanned across the potassium D lines in a thermal vapour. Spectra using a weak probe were measured on the 4S 4P transition and compared to the theoretical model of the electric susceptibility detailed by Zentile et al (2015 Comput. Phys. Commun. 189 162–74 ) in the code named ElecSus. Comparisons were also made on the 4S 5P transition with an adapted version of ElecSus. This is the first experimental test of ElecSus on an atom with a ground state hyperfine splitting smaller than that of the Doppler width. An excellent agreement was found between ElecSus and experimental measurements at a variety of temperatures with rms errors . We have also demonstrated the use of ElecSus as an atomic vapour thermometry tool, and present a possible new measurement technique of transition decay rates which we predict to have a precision of ∼ .
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