The resonant excitation of the sodium D2 transition by laser radiation was investigated experimentally in this thesis. Line polarization measurement of the resonance fluorescence was employed to investigate the excitation process. The sodium atoms, which were collimated in a very narrow beam, were excited by a monochromatic laser beam with the frequency tuned to resonance with the 32S 112(F=2) - 32P312 hyperfine transition. The direction of the laser beam was perpendicular to the atomic beam and the fluorescence photons were detected along a direction perpendicular to both the laser and atomic beams. The experimental measurements were performed to determine the effect due to the variation of the laser intensity and frequency on the line polarization. A theoretical expression of the line polarization as a function of density matrix elements of the upper excited hyperfine sub -states was derived. A full quantum electrodynamic theory was used to derive an atomic operator equation of motion which was needed to calculate atomic operator elements. These elements then yielded the corresponding density matrix elements. The experimental results and the theoretical modelling were in a good agreement. The first experimental results for the line polarization of the highly excited states, 42D512 and 42D312, are also presented. The use of two lasers enabled these highly excited states to be excited. The line polarization of the fluorescence for transitions from the 4D level down to lower states is derived in terms of the density matrix elements of the upper excited states. Two limiting cases for the theoretical predictions of the line polarization are considered.
The quantum electrodynamic description of circularly and linearly polarized, single mode radiation exciting atomic transitions in a hyperfine manifold is extended to the more general case of elliptic polarization. Calculations for the sodium D2 line are tested by observing the line polarization of the resonance flourescence scattered perpendicular to the plane containing laser and atomic beams as a function of the laser polarization. Very good agreement between the calculations and the measurements is achieved. It is demonstrated that predetermined populations and substate coherences can be engineered by optically pumping the transition with the appropriately polarized radiation.
The impact of the optical field polarization on the spectrum of magnetically-induced transitions, a class of transitions forbidden at zero magnetic field, is studied with a weak-probe sub-Doppler technique. The high spectral resolution of the technique combined with the simplicity in interpreting the observed spectra allows to follow the behavior of individual transitions as a function of the magnetic field amplitude. We observe only one intense transition (out of 2 F g + 1 , where F is the quantum number associated with the total angular momentum of the atom) in the case of π -polarized laser radiation (a configuration where the applied magnetic field is parallel to the electric field from the laser radiation) in the F g → F g + 2 manifolds of 85 Rb, 87 Rb and 133 Cs for fields above a few hundreds of gauss. We show that this behavior is in agreement with a model based on the diagonalization of the Zeeman Hamiltonian matrix. With the rapid development of micro-machined vapor-cell-based sensors, these results will be of use to magnetometers operating above Earth field, wide-range laser frequency stabilization systems and atomic Faraday filters. • Magnetically-induced transitions of Rb and Cs D2 lines are studied with π -polarization. • An anomalous behavior of magnetically-induced transition intensities is observed. • These features are studied with a high spectral resolution technique based on nanocell. • Observed features, well described by theory, are expected for all other alkali transitions.
Sodium vapor, in the density range
1013 to 5 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}
1014 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$, was excited by a cw dye laser, tuned 20-150 GHz from either the
D1 or
D2 resonance line. We observed a three-peak scattered spectrum, consisting of the Rayleigh component at the laser frequency, and the two fluorescence components (direct and sensitized) at the atomic resonance-line frequencies. Corrections to the Rayleigh signals for anisotropy and polarization effects, and to the fluorescence signals for radiation trapping, were made in order to obtain the ratio of the sum of the total intensities of the two fluorescence components to that of the Rayleigh component. This ratio combined with a measurement of the line-wing absorption coefficient yields the sodium density and the
D-line self-broadening rate coefficients [${k}_{\mathrm{br}}=4.67\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}7}$
cm3${\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ (\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}15%) for the
D2 line and ${k}_{\mathrm{br}}=3.07\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}7}$
cm3${\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ (\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}15%) for the
D1 line]. Asymmetry in the self-broadened line wings due to fine-structure recoupling was observed. The measured intensity ratio of the
D lines, combined with pulsed measurements of the effective radiative decay rates in the presence of radiation trapping, yields the fine-structure collisional-mixing cross section [$\ensuremath{\sigma}(3{P}_{\frac{3}{2}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}3{P}_{\frac{1}{2}})=172$
A˚2(\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}18%)] at $T\ensuremath{\cong}300\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ C. Our results are compared to other experiments and to theory.
We report measurements of the degree of linear polarization of scattered light as a function of excitation frequency near the Doppler-broadened
NaD2 resonance line. For resonant excitation of the
D2 line, the hyperfine interaction strongly depolarizes the emitted light due to precession of the electronic angular momentum $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{J}}$ prior to spontaneous emission. However, as the laser frequency is tuned away from resonance, the polarization degree sharply rises to the level predicted using a simple
JMJ basis, i.e., neglecting any coupling of the electronic angular momentum $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{J}}$ with the nuclear spin $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{I}}$. Roughly speaking, there is a transition from
F selection rules ($\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{F}}=\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{I}}+\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{J}}$) for resonant excitation to
J selection rules for off-resonant excitation. We present a rigorous calculation of the polarization degree with the use of multipole moments of the density matrix which agrees quantitatively with our data and also predicts complicated interference structure when Doppler broadening is negligible. We show that this structure may shift peaks observed in precision laser-spectroscopy experiments. For Doppler-broadened transitions we discuss a simplified approach (based on an approximation to the Voigt profile) which treats separately the contributions of resonant and off-resonant scattering.
We have performed experimental and theoretical studies of the deflection of a sodium atomic beam by a laser tuned to the 3
2S1/2,F=2--3
2P3/2,F=3 transition. The intensity profile of the deflected beam was measured at different laser power levels and for different laser polarizations. Calculations using a constant force derived from a two-level atom yield deflections which are too large. The results of more realistic simulation calculations agree very well with the measured deflection. Those calculations incorporate the atomic-beam spatial and velocity distributions as well as the laser frequency distribution and polarization state. Optical pumping, loss of atoms to the nonresonant F=1 ground state, and Doppler shifting of the atoms out of resonance are all considered, as also are the statistics and angular distributions of the spontaneous photons.