Magnetization of atomic gas by a combination of light waves

A. I. Alekseev

A.I. Alekseev

А. Ч. Измайлов

А. Ч. Измайлов

A theoretical analysis is made of the resonant interaction between a traveling monochromatic light wave of arbitrary intensity and polarization and the 1/21/2 and 10 transitions in gas atoms in a magnetic field. An analysis is made of the influence of atomic collisions and coherence of the Zeeman sublevels of the terms on the structure of nonlinear magnetooptic resonances in the amplitude and polarization characteristics of the wave. Some features of nonlinear magnetooptic resonances for laser excitation of atoms from the ground state are noted. A study is made of the Faraday rotation and self-rotation of the polarization ellipse of the radiation as a function of the detuning of the wave frequency, the saturation parameter, and the optical density of the gas. The stability of the polarization of light in the medium is discussed. It is noted that these laws may be used to analyze and control the radiation characteristics of lasers and amplifiers when the level of saturation of a resonant gaseous medium in a magnetic field is high.

Immanuel Bloch, Theodor W. Hänsch, Tilman Esslinger

Using continuous radio-frequency waves a coherent beam of atoms can be extracted from a magnetically trapped gaseous Bose-Einstein condensate. These novel atomic beams have matter-wave properties that are very similar to those of laser light in classical optics and are therefore called atom lasers. Furthermore, coupling out atoms from a Bose gas allows one to probe the dramatic changes in the phase coherence properties of the trapped atomic gas above and below the condensation temperature.

A. I. Alekseev, M. E. Alferieff