An analysis is made of the scattering and absorption of light by a hydrogenlike atom in the field of an electromagnetic wave which mixes resonantly an excited level (n = 2) with its neighbor (n = 3). The scattering and absorption cross sections are calculated as a function of the frequency of the wave and of the intensity of the electromagnetic field. The influence of low-frequency nonresonance field on the scattering and absorption of light by an atom in the ground state is considered. It is shown that the scattering (absorption and luminescence) spectra of a hydrogenlike atom may be frequency modulated by a low-frequency amplitude modulated field.
An analysis is made of the scattering and absorption of light by a hydrogenlike atom in the field of an electromagnetic wave which mixes resonantly an excited level (n = 2) with its neighbor (n = 3). The scattering and absorption cross sections are calculated as a function of the frequency of the wave and of the intensity of the electromagnetic field. The influence of low-frequency nonresonance field on the scattering and absorption of light by an atom in the ground state is considered. It is shown that the scattering (absorption and luminescence) spectra of a hydrogenlike atom may be frequency modulated by a low-frequency amplitude modulated field.
Dressed states of an atom in a classical laser field of frequency close to an atomic transition frequency are obtained, which are a considerable improvement over the usual two-level rotating-wave approximation. These wave functions are used in a calculation of the cross section for elastic electron-atom scattering in a laser field. Numerical calculations for electron-hydrogen scattering demonstrate that scattering involving absorption or emission of photons can be strongly influenced by coupling to the nonresonant states, regardless of the field strength. Inclusion of the counter-rotating terms in the calculation is shown to be essential for extending the applicability of the theory to scattering in nonresonant fields, where a first-order perturbation-theoretic treatment of the atom-field interaction would be expected to be quite justified.
Abstract A theoretical and experimental study has been made of the intensity of forward scattered light in conditions of radio-frequency double resonance and level-crossing. The main conclusions are (i) that the magnetic resonance and level-crossing effects which are familiar in the laterally scattered light are to be found also in the forward scattered light, but (ii) that the resonance curves are Doppler-broadened, and the strength of the oscillatory field necessary to generate them is correspondingly increased, and (iii) that coherence narrowing is much more pronounced in forward than in lateral scattering. The differences derive from the coherence between the radiation from different atoms which is present in forward, but not in lateral scattering, and which is implicitly recognized in the classical theory of the propagation of light in polarizable media. The equations of electromagnetism form the basis of the present analysis. In the presence of the oscillatory magnetic field the polarization tensor is complex and time-dependent. The time dependence leads to the result that the number of eigenwaves necessary to describe propagated waves in the medium is four, as against the usual two. An arbitrary wave is resolved into a superposition of the four eigenwaves, all of which have different propagation constants. The analysis is very general, and is applicable to experiments with lasers. The components of the polarization tensor are derived by finding first the polarizability of individual atoms from a semi-classical theory of their interaction with light and magnetic fields. The macroscopic polarization, obtained by summing over individual atoms, is then given by folding the individual polarizabilities with the Doppler distribution of resonance frequencies. In the particular case studied in detail (the inter-combination resonance line, 2537 A, in mercury), the Doppler width is much greater than the radiation width, and the imaginary (absorptive) part of the polarizability is Gaussian. Expressions are derived in a ‘weak scattering’ approximation for the intensity of the forward scattered light. They are magnetic resonance functions which are found to be the Doppler-broadened equivalents of the familiar functions, based on Lorentzians, characteristic of scattering by a single atom. In the case of double resonance the forward scattered light is strongly modulated, as is the laterally scattered light. To investigate coherence narrowing, the zero-field level-crossing has been studied with the restriction of ‘weak scattering’ removed. The result is obtained that the width of levelcrossing curves is inversely proportional to the vapour density for magnetic fields such that the Zeeman splitting is small in relation to the Doppler width. This analytical result has been verified experimentally.
An analysis is made of the spectrum of absorption of a weak probe electromagnetic by two-level atoms in a strong resonant laser field, undergoing collision with buffer gas atoms. The analysis is made using an approach that allows for the direct influence of a strong electromagnetic on the dynamics of an elastic collision between an active atom and a buffer gas atom. Rate equations are analyzed for a combined atom–strong electromagnetic field system (an atom dressed by the field) allowing for spontaneous and optical collisional transitions, and also for the interaction with the probe field. In the steady-state case, an expression is derived for the electric susceptibility of the medium at the small-signal frequency. This expression contains the rates of the optical collisional transitions that depend nontrivially on the parameters of the strong electromagnetic field. The phenomenological characteristics of optical collisional transitions generally used are only valid at low intensities and for small frequency detunings of the strong electromagnetic field, i.e., in the impact limit.
We consider the problem of coherent resonant scattering of electromagnetic waves by a spherical medium of two-level atoms. The frequency dependence of the scattering amplitudes and cross sections reveals a complex structure of narrow peaks and dips. We relate these scattering resonances to the cooperative emission resonances characteristic of a sphere. We find the scattering to show considerable interference between the electric and magnetic multipole contributions, particularly in the lower multipole orders. This interference tends to enhance anisotropies in the differential scattering cross section even for small spheres. For such spheres, the peak values of the resonant contributions of the low-order multipoles to the total scattering cross section can increase with multipole order, in contrast to the usual decrease seen in nonresonant scattering.
The effect of a double structure of saturated absorption resonance in the field of counterpropagating light waves interacting with an atomic gas is studied. The experimental observation of this effect was first reported in 2011 in a work by our colleagues at the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Laboratory of Frequency Standards). The essence of the effect lies in the fact that, on exciting an open dipole transition, another, narrower, resonance of an opposite sign can be observed at the center of the ordinary saturated absorption resonance. A theoretical analysis of this effect has also been performed in this work in terms of a simple spectroscopic model of an atom with two nondegenerate energy levels without taking into account higher spatial harmonics of atomic polarization and polarizations of light waves (scalar model). The present work is devoted to the development of a theory of the formation of a central narrow resonance for the example of a real F g = 1 → F e = 1 atomic transition and to the study of its main characteristics (amplitude, width, contrast, and amplitude-to-width ratio). In addition, the theoretical results obtained without taking into account the influence of higher spatial harmonics and with inclusion of the influence of first higher harmonics are compared. This comparison shows that their influence on the parameters of the new nonlinear resonance is strong even in moderately intense light fields (R ~ γ, where R is the Rabi frequency). The results of this study can be of interest for quantum metrology, as well as for many experiments in which the laser-radiation frequency is stabilized by the saturated absorption resonance on open dipole transitions in atoms and molecules.
Abstract A theory is formulated to describe the modulation which has been observed in fluorescent light from atoms subjected simultaneously to optical and radio-frequency radiation. The optical field stimulates one or more of a set of excited states of the atom, between which the radio-frequency field establishes coherence. This coherence is manifest in the fluorescent radiation. Interference between radiations of different frequency leads to modulation. General expressions are given for the intensity of the fluorescent light as a function of time. The Zeeman structure of the transition (63P1 — 6 1S0), A2537 A, in mercury is studied in detail. Modulation at frequencies, 1, 2, 3 and 4 times that of the radio-frequency field, w0, is predicted, and resonant effects at static magnetic fields, 0, 1/2, 1, 3/2, 2 and 3 times H0, the field for which w0 is the Larm or frequency. Resonances at fields other than H0 are due to excitation with light of mixed polarization. Most of the predicted effects have been found experimentally. A ‘frequency diagram’ is introduced and discussed, to represent the combined effects of static and radio-frequency magnetic fields. To each excited state belong a set of r frequencies, where r is the number of states linked by the radio-frequency perturbation. The 9 levels are drawn, as functions of H, for the states mJ = 0, ± 1, of 3P1. The resonances at fields other than H0 may be associated with intersections of frequency levels belonging to different mJ.