Magnetic-field decoupling of an alkali-metal excited-state hyperfine structure

Journal Article · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Physical Review, A; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.43.2171· OSTI ID:6145911

van Wijngaarden, W A; Sagle, J ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J1P3 (CA)

The theory of how excited-state hyperfine structure can be determined using a magnetic field to decouple the nuclear and electronic angular momentum is presented. The initial excited state is assumed to have an anisotropic Zeeman sublevel population distribution, which can be conveniently created by a laser-induced multiphoton excitation of an unpolarized atom. The Zeeman sublevel populations are subsequently mixed by the hyperfine interaction. The degree of mixing is controlled by a magnetic field applied along the quantization axis. The relative Zeeman sublevel populations can be monitored by detecting the polarization of fluorescence emitted when the excited state radiatively decays. It is convenient to take the ratio of two time-integrated fluorescent signals measured for orthogonal linear polarizations, since this is independent of the excited-state number density. The plot of this ratio versus magnetic field is very well approximated by a Lorentzian curve whose half-width is proportional to the magnetic dipole hyperfine coupling constant. This method was used to determine the magnitude of the magnetic dipole constant of the cesium 8{ital D}{sub 3/2} state to be 3.92{plus minus}0.10 MHz, which is in excellent agreement with previous results.

• OSTI ID: 6145911
• Journal Information: Physical Review, A; (USA), Journal Name: Physical Review, A; (USA) Vol. 43:5; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640302* -- Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics-- Atomic & Molecular Properties & Theory
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ALKALI METALS
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
ATOMS
D STATES
DECOUPLING
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LEVELS
EXCITED STATES
EXPERIMENT PLANNING
FLUORESCENCE
HYPERFINE STRUCTURE
LUMINESCENCE
MAGNETIC FIELDS
METALS
PLANNING
ZEEMAN EFFECT