Optical Pumping Investigation of Atomic Interactions

Abstract

Optical orientation of atoms (optical pumping), discovered by A.Kastler in 1949, is a transfer of the angular momentum to an ensemble of atoms as a result of their absorption by circularly polarized resonance radiation and subsequent transition to the ground state. This orientation of atomic momenta can be detected and investigated by means of measuring variation in absorption or scattering of resonance pumping light. Nonpolarized light can also be sometimes used for optical pumping with resulting alignment of atomic momenta /I/. Many important scientific and practical results have been obtained with the aid of optical pumping /I/. One application has been the study of a number of atomic interactions. Depolarizing collisions of alkali metal atoms in the ground and excited states with atoms of noble gases and molecules of hydrogen and nitrogen, Van der Waals and exchange interactions involved in these collisions as well as spin exchange in collisions between like and unlike paramagnetic atoms and between atoms and electrons have been investigated /I/.