Physical Review A
Calculation of line shapes in double-resonance optical pumping
Heung‐Ryoul Noh, Han Seb Moon
Abstract
A theoretical study on double-resonance optical pumping for the transitions $5{S}_{1/2}\text{\ensuremath{-}}5{P}_{3/2}\text{\ensuremath{-}}4{D}_{3/2,5/2}$ of $^{87}\text{R}\text{b}$ atoms is presented. The full-density-matrix equations in the presence the probe and the coupling laser beams for all relevant magnetic sublevels of the hyperfine levels were solved numerically, and the absorption of a probe beam was calculated as a function of the detuning of the coupling beam. The calculated results were compared with experimental data, and they showed an excellent agreement. The results were also compared with the approximate results calculated when the coherence between the ground and the highest excited levels was neglected. We found that the dominant operating mechanism for double-resonance signals was the optical pumping rather than the two-photon coherence, although the latter affected the signals significantly.