Control of electronic magnetic state population via light polarization in the 5p_3/2$ \rightarrow $ 6p_3/2electric quadrupole transition in atomic rubidium

Abstract

Doppler-free optical double-resonance spectroscopy is used to study the   s p p 5 5 6 1 2 3 2 3 2 excitation sequence in room-temperature rubidium atoms. This involves a  s p 5 5 F or ±2 electric quadrupole transitions.

Laser spectroscopy of the 5P3/2 → 6Pj (j = 1/2 and 3/2) electric dipole forbidden transitions in atomic rubidium

“…It has been described in detail elsewhere [7,8]. Briefly, an external cavity diode laser (ECDL1) at a wavelength of 780 nm is used to prepare atoms in the 5P 3/2 state.…”

“…Both the preparation and the electric quadrupole transitions occur between specific hyperfine states of each of the manifolds shown in Figure 1 for 87 Rb, or the corresponding diagram for 85 Rb which is given in [7,8]. The use of two 030001-4 .…”

“…The sum is taken over all values of the magnetic quantum numbers M, over the two hyperfine states of the 5S 1/2 ground state, and over the two possible polarization states λ of the decay photon, What follows is a brief discussion of ways to calculate each term in this three-step model. More details can be found in [7,8].…”

“…They also indicated that this should be the case for nP → (n + 1)P non-dipole transitions in other alkali atoms. Experiments performed over the last three years [7,8] have shown how continuous wave diode lasers can be used to study the 5P 3/2 → 6P 3/2 electric quadrupole transition in thermal rubidium atoms.…”

“…A comparison between the contributions of the electric dipole and electric quadrupole terms, including their selection rules and orders of magnitude, is also made. Then a review of the results obtained for the 5P 3/2 → 6P 3/2 electric quadrupole excitation in thermal rubidium atoms [7,8] is presented. This includes a discussion of the principle of the experiment, a presentation of the experimental setup, and a review is made of the theoretical model that allows a simple interpretation of the experimental spectra.…”