Transverse measurements of polarization in optically pumped Rb vapor cells

Authors

J. M. Dreiling, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
E. B. Norrgard, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
D. Tupa, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New MexicoFollow
Timothy J. Gay, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2012

Citation

PHYSICAL REVIEW A 86, 053416 (2012)

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.86.053416

Comments

©2012 American Physical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

We have developed a simple heuristic method for determining the polarization of an optically pumped alkalimetal vapor. A linearly polarized probe beam traverses a vapor cell perpendicular to the pump-beam propagation direction, and the transmitted beam intensity is monitored for orthogonal linear polarizations. As the probe beam is scanned in frequency across the D₁ transition, its linear-polarization-dependent transmission can be used as a measure of the atomic orientation of the vapor. We analyze these transmission differences and their dependence on the alkali-metal number density in the vapor.