Polarization-ellipse rotation by induced gyrotropy in atomic vapors

Abstract

We study theoretically and experimentally a new mechanism for the rotation of the polarization ellipse of a single laser beam propagating through an atomic vapor with a frequency tuned near an atomic resonance. The results of a theoretical treatment for the case of a J = (1/2) to J = (1/2) atomic transition show that a rotation of the polarization ellipse of the laser beam will occur as a result of ground-state optical pumping and that the angle of rotation is independent of the laser intensity over a broad range of laser intensities. The predictions of this theoretical model are tested experimentally through the use of potassium vapor and are found to agree with the experimental data.

Vacuum squeezing in atomic media via self-rotation

“…Also, SR in this system was studied theoretically and experimentally in Ref. [12], where K atoms were employed and He buffer gas was used to collisionally broaden the 4 2 S 1/2 → 4 2 P 1/2 transition to remove hyperfine effects.…”

“…[10,11,12,13,14] and references therein), the light will be in a squeezed state after traversal of the medium if losses in the medium are sufficiently small. A detailed theoretical study of this effect for a generic Kerr medium without absorption was carried out in Ref.…”

Slow Light with Integrated Gain and Large Pulse Delay

“…1(a)). This operational configuration provides EIT with integrated gain for the signal field due to polarization self-rotation [23,24,25]. In this wellstudied phenomenon, the major polarization axis of elliptically polarized light rotates during propagation (see Fig.…”

Self-rotation of optical polarization in rubidium vapor

“…This so-called self-rotation of optical polarization effect was first observed in molecular liquids [1,2] . This effect is caused by Kerr nonlinearity in solids and liquids [3] . In atomic vapor, it is caused by optical pumping and AC-Stack shifts [4] .…”

“…However, extant studies either focus on the complex experimental phenomena and theoretical simulation with multiple transitions [3] or treat the selfrotation of optical polarization with Faraday rotation and absorption also taken into account [1,2,7,8] . In this letter, we report the self-rotation of optical polarization in a rubidium vapor.…”