Optical pumping in a L-system by parametric luminescence light

Abstract

We examine the optical pumping effect in an ensemble of three-level atoms with a Λ configuration of the energy sublevels excited by parametric luminescence light in the squeezed state. We derive quantum kinetic equations that describe the evolution of the density matrix of atoms irradiated by low-intensity squeezed light with a finite-width spectrum. In particular, we show that because of the quantum statistical properties of the squeezed light there can be a redistribution of atoms among the lower energy sublevels, despite the equality of the intensities of the spectral components of the light that resonantly excites optical transitions in the Λ-system. The relation of the optical pumping effect to the correlation and spatial-temporal spectral properties of squeezed light is discussed in detail. Finally, we show that the effects are closely linked to the finiteness of the width of the squeezed-light spectrum.