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Physical Review A

Mechanical Faraday effect induced by binary collisions

Gerard Nienhuis, S Kryszewski

Published Dec 1, 1994• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Whereas mechanical rotation of a transparent solid induces rotation of the plane of linear polarization of a light beam, for a dilute vapor this mechanical Faraday effect must disappear. By studying the structure of the collision operator that is familiar in the unified theory of spectral line broadening, we demonstrate that a nonzero effect arises for a vapor of absorbing atoms embedded in a buffer gas. The size of the effect is easily compared with the magnetic Faraday effect, when the angular velocity is replaced with the Larmor precession frequency. Then, the mechanical effect is smaller by a factor of the order of the collision frequency multiplied with the duration of a collision. Furthermore, the mechanical effect is a linear combination of the frequency derivative of a (collision-broadened) dispersion curve and the derivative of an absorption curve.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.50.5051

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Whereas mechanical rotation of a transparent solid induces rotation of the plane of linear polarization of a light beam, for a dilute vapor this mechanical Faraday effect must disappear. By studying the structure of the collision operator that is familiar in the unified theory of spectral line broadening, we demonstrate that a nonzero effect arises for a vapor of absorbing atoms embedded in a buffer gas. The size of the effect is easily compared with the magnetic Faraday effect, when the angular velocity is replaced with the Larmor precession frequency. Then, the mechanical effect is smaller by a factor of the order of the collision frequency multiplied with the duration of a collision. Furthermore, the mechanical effect is a linear combination of the frequency derivative of a (collision-broadened) dispersion curve and the derivative of an absorption curve.
The enhanced Faraday effect in gases for optical frequencies near absorption lines provides a basis for modulating a light beam. In the present study, incident radiation consisting of the Zeeman s components of the D lines of sodium passed through a polarizer to the Faraday cell, which employed saturated sodium vapor at approximately 240°C as an optical medium. Rotation of the plane of polarization of radiation traversing the cell was modulated at frequencies as high as 698 Mc/sec. On the basis of cw modulation studies, there appears to be no reduction in the integrated time-varying Faraday effect for frequencies as high as 265 Mc/sec; this frequency is 1100 times the Larmor frequency in the magnetic fields involved and 26 times the natural linewidth. There was no evidence of any reduction in frequency response for pulsed modulation at 698 Mc/sec.
Nonlinear in laser power, near-resonant light-atom interaction leads to a number of spectacular modifications of a well-known effect -polarization plane rotation in a magnetic field applied along the direction of light propagation.In particular, the rotation can be enhanced by up to nine orders of magnitude compared to the linear case.Faraday effect [ 1 ] is the rotation of the plane of linear light polarization by a medium in a magnetic field applied in the direction of light propagation.In 1898, Macaluso and Corbino eJ, studying absorption spectra of the alkali atoms in the presence of magnetic fields, discovered that the Faraday effect in the vicinity of resonance absorption lines also had a distinct resonant character.The essence of the Macaluso-Corbino effect can be illustrated by considering a simple case of a F= 1 ~ F'=O transition (Fig. 1 ).Linearly polarized light incident on the sample can be resolved into two counter-rotating circular components ( cr~.In the absence of a magnetic field, the M=±l sublevels are degenerate and the optical resonance
We investigate, theoretically and experimentally, the onset of modified electronic precession due to quasimolecular behavior in dense atomic gases. The close connection between the angular coupling of collision pairs and a modification of the Faraday effect is pointed out. We have observed the onset of this quasimolecular modification of the atomic Faraday effect with high-resolution laser measurements of the absorption and Faraday spectra near the D2{\mathit{D}}_{2}D2​ line of Rb atoms immersed in high-density buffer gases. The atomic Faraday effect itself is also affected by the presence of nuclear spin; this modifies the electronic precession through angular-momentum coupling. We describe how to separate the effect of nuclear spin from the effects due to quasimolecular behavior. In this way we establish the existence of angular coupling of the Rb valence electrons to neighboring buffer-gas atoms at densities above \ensuremath{\sim}2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1019{10}^{19}1019 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}3}$ in Xe buffer gas. In He buffer gas, quasimolecular modifications of the Faraday effect are approximately two times smaller than for Xe.
We compare the Faraday spectrum with the dispersion spectrum near the D2{\mathit{D}}_{2}D2​ line of Rb atoms immersed in a high density Xe buffer gas. We observe deviations from the standard Becquerel relation, which relates the Faraday effect of an atomic gas to its dispersion. The deviations are due to coupling of the Rb valence electron to the Xe environment. The Rb D2{\mathit{D}}_{2}D2​ transition dipole moment becomes rotationally locked to the instantaneous collision axes at Xe densities of \ensuremath{\sim}1020{10}^{20}1020 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}3}$.