Coherent population oscillation produced by saturating probe and pump fields on the intercombination line

Abstract

We present a theoretical study of the experiments on coherent population oscillations and coher- ent population trapping on the intercombination line of 174Y b. The transition involves a change of the spin and thus can not be interpreted in terms of an effective Lambda system. The reported experiments are done in the regime where both pump and probe fields can saturate the transition. We demonstrate by both numerical and analytical calculations the appearance of the interference minimum as both pump and probe start saturating the transition. We present an analytical result for the threshold probe power when the interference minimum can appear. We also present de- tailed study of the appearance of the interference minimum when magnetic fields are applied. The magnetic fields not only create Zeeman splittings but in addition make the system open because of the couplings to other levels. We show the possibility of interference minimum at the position of subharmonic resonances.