Calculated Hanle transmission and absorption spectra of the $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ ${D}_{1}$ line with residual magnetic field for arbitrarily polarized light

Calculated Hanle transmission and absorption spectra of the ${}^{87}{Rb}$ $D_{1}$ line with residual magnetic field for arbitrarily polarized light

Heung-Ryoul Noh and Han Seb Moon

Phys. Rev. A 82, 033407 – Published 9 September 2010

Abstract

This paper reports a theoretical study on the transmission spectra of an arbitrarily polarized laser beam through a rubidium cell with or without a buffer gas in Hanle-type coherent population trapping (CPT). This study examined how laser polarization, transverse magnetic field, and collisions with buffer gas affects the spectrum. The transmission spectrum due to CPT and the absorption spectrum due to the level crossing absorption (LCA) were calculated according to the laser polarization. The results show that the LCA is strongly dependent on the transverse magnetic field and interaction time of the atoms with a laser light via collisions with the buffer gas. In addition, the spectral shape of the calculated Hanle spectrum is closely related to the direction between the (stray) transverse magnetic field and polarization of the laser.