Oriented atoms in weak magnetic fields
Peter Hannaford
This article reviews the early investigations of Series on the resonance absorption and fluorescence of light by samples of oriented atoms dagger subjected to static and oscillatory magnetic fields. These investigations include experiments on optical-radiofrequency double resonance, light beats in double resonance, circulation of coherence in optical pumping, and time-biasing in level-crossing spectroscopy. It then describes some selected laser spectroscopy experiments involving the interaction of optically oriented atoms with static magnetic fields that were stimulated by the earlier work of Series, including experiments on hyperfine structure quantum beats, cascade quantum beats, ground-state quantum beats in transmission, and optogalvanic detection of atomic coherences. Finally, it describes some current work which uses static magnetic fields to manipulate the external variables (momentum and position) of laser-cooled oriented atoms, with applications in the rapidly developing field of atom optics and atom interferometry.
Physica Scripta•Jan 1, 1997•6 citations