Selective laser pumping of magnetic sublevels in the hyperfine structure of the cesium atom

Abstract

The evolution of the populations of the magnetic sublevels of the cesium atom (133Cs isotope) in resonant laser fields with linear polarization is analyzed using the equations for the density matrix. Analytic expressions are derived for stationary populations resulting from laser-induced optical transitions on the hyperfine structure components F g = 3 ↔ F e = 2, 3 and F f = 4 ↔ F e = 3, 4 of lines D1 (62S1/2 → 62P1/2) and D2 (62S1/2 → 62P3/2) depending on the initial values of the populations. The numerical solution of the evolution equations gives the characteristic times of stabilization of the steady regime as functions of laser field intensities and detuning from optical resonance. We determine the sequences of optical transitions increasing (by more than an order of magnitude) the population of the lower sublevel 62S1/2F g = 3 M = 0 of the “clock” microwave transition F g = 3 M = 0 ↔ F f = 4 M = 0 in the cesium frequency standard, which increases the signal intensity in the recording system by the same proportion.