Abstract
This paper describes an experiment where the Hanle effect in the ground state of an atomic transition is detected, not by a modification of the light absorbed or reemitted by the atoms, but by a modification of the atomic trajectories. The experimental results are compared with the theoretical predictions of two calculations, the first one considering only the steady-state regime, the second one including the effects of the transient phenomena which take place when the atom enters the laser beam.
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References
Hanle, W.: Z. Phys.30, 93 (1924); Z. Phys.35, 346 (1926)
Lehmann, J.-C., Cohen-Tannoudji, C.: C. R. Acad. Sci.258, 4463 (1964)
Dupont-Roc, J., Haroche, S., Cohen-Tannoudji, C.: Phys. Letters28A, 638 (1969)
Cohen-Tannoudji, C., Dupont-Roc, J., Haroche, S., Laloë, F.: Phys. Rev. Letters22, 758 (1969)
See for example the papers published in the special issue on “Laser cooling and trapping of atoms”. Chu, S., Wieman, C. (eds.) J. Opt. Soc. Am. B6 (1989)
Cook R.J. has suggested to use the deflection of an atomic beam for studying the statistics of fluorescence photons without being limited by the efficiency of photodetectors: Cook, R.J.: Opt. Commun.35, 347 (1980); see also the experiments described in Wang, Y.Z., Huang, W.G., Cheng, Y.D., Liu, L.: In laser spectroscopy VII. Hansch, T.W., Shen, Y.R. (eds.) p. 238. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer 1985
Cook, R.J.: Phys. Rev. A20, 224 (1979)
Gordon, J.P., Ashkin, A.: Phys. Rev. A21, 1606 (1980)
Aspect, A., Arimondo, E., Kaiser, R., Vansteenkiste, N. Cohen-Tannoudji, C.: Phys. Rev. Lett.61, 826 (1988)
Aspect, A., Vansteenkiste, N., Kaiser, R., Haberland, H., Karrais, M.: Chem. Phys.145, 307 (1990)
Vansteenkiste, N., Gerz, C., Kaiser, R., Holberg, L., Salomon, C., Aspect, A.: J. Phys. (Paris) (submitted)
It is also possible to use a linearly polarized laser beam. One can then show that there is a similar Hanle resonance when the componentB z of the magnetic field is scanned around 0. See Kaiser, R., thèse de doctorat de l'Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), Paris 1990
Aspect, A., Arimondo, E., Kaiser, R., Vansteenkiste, N., Cohen-Tannoudji, C.: J. Opt. Soc. Am. B6, 2112 (1989)
Cook, R.J.: Phys. Rev. A22, 1078 (1980)