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Detailed Look at Aspects of Optical Pumping in Sodium
Published
Author(s)
Jabez J. McClelland, Michael H. Kelley
Abstract
Calculations and measurements are presented of the increase in F-bar=1 ground-state population as a function of incident laser intensity in optically pumped sodium. The calculations involve numerical integration of a multilevel version of the optical Bloch equations. Agreement between experiment and theory is good when proper account is taken of the residual Doppler width in the atomic beam, which causes a larger increase in the F-bar=1 population. The F-bar=1 population increases by 3.5% at 35 mW/cm2, the highest laser intensity investigated.
Citation
Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics)
McClelland, J.
and Kelley, M.
(1985),
Detailed Look at Aspects of Optical Pumping in Sodium, Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics)
(Accessed October 13, 2025)