Abstract
Lax et al. [Phys. Rev. 11 (1975) 1365] discovered that a light beam in vacuum is not a transverse wave but does have a longitudinal field component. We investigate atomic and molecular electric dipole transitions induced by such a light beam, in particular, linearly polarized in a transverse plane. We derive the selection rules and the transition rates for various quantization axes using the paraxial approximation up to the first order of 1/kw, where k is the wave number and w is the transverse size of the light beam. The light beam is able to yield atomic spin polarization in the direction perpendicular to both the optical axis and the transverse electric field, and its magnitude is approximately 1/kw times that generated by a circularly polarized light wave with the similar intensity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 173-178 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Optics Communications |
| Volume | 190 |
| Issue number | 1-6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2001 Apr 1 |
Keywords
- Atomic spin polarization
- Gaussian beam
- Linearly polarized light beam
- Optical pumping
- Paraxial appproximation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering