Abstract
The effect of excited-state mixing on the optical pumping of alkali-metal vapors is considered for the case where the energy separation between the and first excited states is relatively large, allowing the isolation of mixing effects within a particular level. Two models for the mixing process are proposed, one a random reorientation of the total electronic angular momentum J, and the other a reorientation of J subject to the selection rule . The probabilities for mixing transitions among -state sublevels have been calculated for an alkali atom of nuclear spin , and can be used to calculate the optical-pumping transition probabilities for a vapor subject to any degree of excited-state mixing. Several possible experiments suggested by these calculations are discussed.
- Received 21 March 1966
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.148.82
©1966 American Physical Society