We present a theoretical and experimental study of polarization spectroscopy of rubidium atoms. All of the populations of the magnetic sublevels were calculated from the rate equations and used in the calculation of the polarization spectroscopy spectra. Using this model, we could generate theoretical line shapes of the polarization spectra on the $D_2$ transitions of rubidium atoms. The experimental results demonstrated that our model accurately reproduced spectra for all transitions in hyperfine structures.

• Received 13 October 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.77.032513