Light-induced drift under conditions of ground state optical hyperfine pumping

Abstract

Analytical expressions describing the light-induced drift (LID) of alkali metal vapours reasonably well both under conditions of ground state optical hyperfine pumping and in its absence are obtained. It is shown that under the conditions of optical pumping the LID effect of the particles arises under the action of its own fluorescent radiation. The drift velocity for sodium atoms in a argon atmosphere reaches a value of 1 cm s-1 for fluorescent radiation of intensity 20 mW cm-2.