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Physical Review A

Effective optical anisotropy in evanescent wave propagation in atomic vapor

Krzysztof Kiersnowski, Leszek Jozefowski, T. Dohnalik

Published Jun 1, 1998• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have observed changes in the polarization of an evanescent wave propagating in a resonant atomic vapor. The effect can be interpreted as an effective dichroism and birefringence of the vapor, the phenomenon characteristic of anisotropic media. In this case it arises from the Goos-H\"anchen shift, which is different for light polarized parallel and perpendicular to the incident plane. We have also observed Faraday rotation of the evanescent wave.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.57.r4079

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We have observed changes in the polarization of an evanescent wave propagating in a resonant atomic vapor. The effect can be interpreted as an effective dichroism and birefringence of the vapor, the phenomenon characteristic of anisotropic media. In this case it arises from the Goos-H"anchen shift, which is different for light polarized parallel and perpendicular to the incident plane. We have also observed Faraday rotation of the evanescent wave.
Various efforts have been made to determine the polarization state of evanescent waves in different structures. The present study shows the reliability of magneto-optical spectroscopy of D1 and D2 lines of rubidium metal and polarization-dependent transitions to investigate and trace the changes in the polarization state of evanescent fields during total internal reflection over different angles. For this purpose, we design and fabricate atomic- evanescent Rb vapor cells and examine the effect of polarization changes of evanescent waves, depending on the propagation direction of evanescent waves in anisotropic rubidium vapor media under 88 mT external magnetic field by different configurations theoretically and experimentally. The results confirm the dependency of allowed [Formula: see text] transitions on the magneto optical configuration as a tool to determine changes in the polarization of evanescent waves in more complicated wave states in anisotropic media.
Large Faraday rotations can be generated by circular birefringence of atomic samples in an axial magnetic field in the vicinity of atomic resonance lines. More generally, magneto-optical effects in atomic samples include circular dichroism in addition to birefringence, resulting in a modification of the ellipticity as well as the polarization alignment. Usually such effects are investigated for homogeneous linear polarizations, but the mechanisms apply also to polarization structures such as vector vortices. We investigate the effect of optical activity of a rubidium vapor in the hyperfine Paschen–Back regime along the D2 line, for the example of azimuthally polarized input light. We show that for low atomic densities, circular birefringence dominates over dichroism, and azimuthal polarization is rotated toward radial polarization. The rotation angle increases with increasing optical densities. At high vapor temperatures, dichroism becomes more and more relevant, leading to intricate variations of both alignment and ellipticity. Our results shine new light on the interplay between different magneto-optic effects at strong magnetic fields. Their highly sensitive response to detuning may find applications in spectroscopy and quantum sensing.
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We consider radiative transport in ultracold atomic systems under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. We calculate the macroscopic susceptibility and scattering tensors of the light and show that essential anisotropic optical properties such as dichroism and birefringence naturally appear. In such a case, light propagation through a spatially nonhomogeneous atomic cloud is considered for an arbitrary direction of the probe light. We determine the polarization properties of the coherently transmitted probe light as well as the polarization dependence of light incoherently scattered in an arbitrary direction. Both the steady state regime and time-dependent case are discussed. Concrete calculations are performed for the case of an inhomogeneous and ultracold sample of 87Rb^{87}\text{R}\text{b}87Rb atoms.