Transitions with x- and y-Polarized Light

M. Ya. Agre, Л. П. Рапопорт

Andrei V. Afanasev, Carl E. Carlson, Hao Wang

Abstract When polarized light is absorbed by an atom, the excited atomic system carries information about the initial polarization of light. For the light that carries an orbital angular momentum, or the twisted light, the polarization states are described by eight independent parameters, as opposed to three Stokes parameters for plane waves. We use a parameterization of the spin-density matrix of the twisted light in terms of vector and tensor polarization, in analogy with massive spin-1 particles, and derive formulae that define atom’s response to specific polarization components of the twisted light. It is shown that for dipole ( S → P ) atomic transitions, the atom’s polarization is in one-to-one correspondence with polarization of the incident light; this relation is violated, however, for the transitions of higher multipolarity ( S → D , S → F , etc) We pay special attention to contributions of the longitudinal electric field into the matrix elements of atomic transitions.

賢 東條, Masahiro Hasuo

The absorption line strengths of electric-dipole-forbidden (magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole) transitions have been calculated in the evanescent light field that accompanies the total reflection of light. Owing to the complex wave and polarization vectors of the evanescent light, the apparent oscillator strength is enhanced from that in the propagating light and the enhancement for the electric quadrupole transition depends on the polarization vector of the incident light. Separation of the contribution from each component of the wave and polarization vectors is proposed with a magnetic-sublevel-resolved measurement for the $(s\text{\ensuremath{-}}d)$ electric quadrupole transition.

N. Andersen, Klaus Bartschat

G. Ramachandran, A. R. Usha Devi, N S Saandeep +1 more