F-resolved Magneto-optical Resonances at D1 Excitation of Cesium: Experiment and Theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates bright and dark magneto-optical resonances in cesium's D1 line, combining experimental measurements with a detailed theoretical model that accounts for hyperfine structure and Doppler effects.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed comparison between experiment and theory for hyperfine-resolved magneto-optical resonances in cesium D1 excitation, confirming the traditional interpretation.

Findings

Excellent agreement between experiment and theory on resonance sign, contrast, and width.

Hyperfine transitions can be studied separately due to Doppler width exceeding hyperfine splitting.

The model accurately predicts the effects based on transition probabilities.

Abstract

Bright and dark nonlinear magneto-optical resonances associated with the ground state Hanle effect have been studied experimentally and theoretically for D1 excitation of atomic cesium. This system offers the advantage that the separation between the different hyperfine levels exceeds the Doppler width, and, hence, transitions between individual levels can be studied separately. Experimental measurements for various laser power densities and transit relaxation times are compared with a model based on the optical Bloch equations, which averages over the Doppler contour of the absorption line and simultaneously takes into account all hyperfine levels, as well as mixing of magnetic sublevels in an external magnetic field. In contrast to previous studies, which could not resolve the hyperfine transitions because of Doppler broadening, in this study there is excellent agreement between experiment and theory regarding the sign (bright or dark), contrast, and width of the resonance. The results support the traditional theoretical interpretation, according to which these effects are related to the relative strengths of transition probabilities between different magnetic sublevels in a given hyperfine transition.