Modification of a strong resonance radiation polarization in media with Doppler-broadened transitions of 0 to 1 and 1 to 0 types and in the presence of a DC electric field

Abstract

For atomic media with resonant Doppler-broadened transitions of J=0 to J'=1 or J=1 to J'=0 type and taking into account the relaxation due to depolarizing collisions, a theory of non-linear optical polarization phenomena in the presence of a DC electric field is developed. The theory is valid in the case of both arbitrary resonance radiation intensity and arbitrary external DC electric field spatial orientation. The intensity-dependent contributions to variation of radiation polarization are analysed in detail in the Doppler limit. Special attention is paid to the case of linear polarization of incident radiation; in this case as well as in the presence of a DC electric field, the Doppler-enhanced non-linear optical contributions determining the emerging ellipticity and the rotation angle of polarization, respectively, are of the same order of magnitude (unlike the case of external magnetic field, in which the key effect is the rotation of polarization). It is shown, however, that in the case of the strictly transverse geometry and if the angle between the electric field direction and the initial polarization vector is equal to 45 degrees , the Doppler-enhanced non-linear optical contribution to the rotation angle becomes anomalously small. The effect of the presence of a longitudinal component of electric field on the non-linear optical polarization phenomena is investigated. In addition, although in the case of a purely longitudinal geometry for the considered transitions the electric field effect on radiation polarization modification is absent, some analytic results concerning self-rotation and deformation of a polarization ellipse in the Doppler limit for an intense initially elliptically polarized radiation are also presented.