We have measured magneto-optical signals obtained by exciting the
D1 line of cesium atoms confined to an extremely thin cell (ETC), whose walls are separated by less than $1\ensuremath{\mu}\text{m}$, and developed an improved theoretical model to describe these signals with experimental precision. The theoretical model was based on the optical Bloch equations and included all neighboring hyperfine transitions, the mixing of the magnetic sublevels in an external magnetic field, and the Doppler effect, as in previous studies. However, in order to model the extreme conditions in the ETC more realistically, the model was extended to include a unified treatment of transit relaxation and wall collisions with relaxation rates that were obtained directly from the thermal velocities of the atoms and the length scales involved. Furthermore, the interactions of the atoms with different regions of the laser beam were modeled separately to account for the varying laser beam intensity over the beam profile as well as saturation effects that become important near the center of the beam at the relatively high laser intensities used during the experiments in order to obtain measurable signals. The model described the experimentally measured signals for laser intensities for magnetic fields up to 55 G and laser intensities up to
1W/cm2 with excellent agreement.
Experimental and theoretical studies are presented related to the ground-state magneto-optical resonance observed in cesium vapor confined in an extremely thin cell (ETC), with thickness equal to the wavelength of the irradiating light. It is shown that utilization of the ETC allows one to examine the formation of a magneto-optical resonance on the individual hyperfine transitions, thus distinguishing processes resulting in dark (reduced absorption) or bright (enhanced absorption) resonance formation. We report experimental evidence of bright magneto-optical resonance sign reversal in Cs atoms confined in an ETC. A theoretical model is proposed based on the optical Bloch equations that involves the elastic interaction processes of atoms in the ETC with its walls, resulting in depolarization of the Cs excited state, which is polarized by the exciting radiation. This depolarization leads to the sign reversal of the bright resonance. Using the proposed model, the magneto-optical resonance amplitude and width as a function of laser power are calculated and compared with the experimental ones. The numerical results are in good agreement with those of experiment.
Nonlinear magneto-optical resonances have been measured in an extremely thin cell (ETC) for the
D1 transition of rubidium in an atomic vapor of natural isotopic composition. All hyperfine transitions of both isotopes have been studied for a wide range of laser power densities, laser detunings, and ETC wall separations. Dark resonances in the laser induced fluorescence (LIF) were observed as expected when the ground-state total angular momentum
Fg was greater than or equal to the excited-state total angular momentum
Fe. Unlike the case of ordinary cells, the width and contrast of dark resonances formed in the ETC dramatically depended on the detuning of the laser from the exact atomic transition. A theoretical model based on the optical Bloch equations was applied to calculate the shapes of the resonance curves. The model, which had been developed previously for ordinary vapor cells, averaged over the contributions from different atomic velocity groups, considered all neighboring hyperfine transitions, took into account the splitting and mixing of magnetic sublevels in an external magnetic field, and included a detailed treatment of the coherence properties of the laser radiation. Such a theoretical approach had successfully described nonlinear magneto-optical resonances in ordinary vapor cells. However, to describe the resonances in the ETC, key parameters such as the ground-state relaxation rate, excited-state relaxation rate, Doppler width, and Rabi frequency had to be modified significantly in accordance with the ETC's unique features. The level of agreement between the measured and calculated resonance curves achieved for the ETC was similar to what could be accomplished for ordinary cells. However, in the case of the ETC, it was necessary to fine-tune parameters such as the background and the Rabi frequency for different transitions, whereas for the ordinary cells, these parameters were identical for all transitions.