Abstract
According to the quantum theory of the optical-pumping cycle, one can describe the effect of a nonresonant light beam on the different Zeeman sublevels of an atomic ground state by an effective Hamiltonian which depends on the polarization and spectral profile of the incident light. In order to check the structure of , we have performed a detailed experimental study of the ground-state energy sublevels of various kinds of atoms perturbed by different types of nonresonant light beams. Attention is paid to the modification of the Zeeman structure due to . We have been able to obtain experimentally in the ground state of , , and , Zeeman light shifts that are larger than the width of the levels due to the thermal relaxation. The removal of the Zeeman degeneracy in zero external field, due to a nonresonant light irradiation, is observed by different optical-pumping techniques; the full Zeeman diagram of the perturbed atoms is also determined when a static field is added. We have checked that the effect of can be described in terms of fictitious static electric or magnetic fields. These fictitious fields can be used to act selectively on a given atomic level.
- Received 19 May 1971
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.5.968
©1972 American Physical Society