Nonlinear magneto-optical rotation, Zeeman and hyperfine relaxation of potassium atoms in a paraffin-coated cell

Abstract

Nonlinear magneto-optical Faraday rotation (NMOR) on the potassium D1 and D2 lines was used to study Zeeman relaxation rates in an antirelaxation paraffin-coated 3-cm diameter potassium vapor cell. Intrinsic Zeeman relaxation rates of ${\gamma }^{NMOR}/2\pi =2.0(6)\mathrm{Hz}$ were observed. The relatively small hyperfine intervals in potassium lead to significant differences in NMOR in potassium compared to rubidium and cesium. Using laser optical pumping, widths and frequency shifts were also determined for transitions between ground-state hyperfine sublevels of ${}^{39}$K atoms contained in the same paraffin-coated cell. The intrinsic hyperfine relaxation rate of ${\gamma }_{expt}^{hf}/2\pi =10.6(7)$Hz and a shift of $-9.1(2)$Hz were observed. These results show that adiabatic relaxation gives only a small contribution to the overall hyperfine relaxation in the case of potassium, and the relaxation is dominated by other mechanisms similar to those observed in previous studies with rubidium.

arXiv comment8pages, 10 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Resonant nonlinear magneto-optical effects in atoms
• Relaxation of atomic polarization in paraffin-coated cesium vapor cells
• Nonlinear magneto-optical rotation with frequency-modulated light
• Investigation of microwave transitions and nonlinear magneto-optical rotation in anti-relaxation-coated cells
• Magnetometry with millimeter-scale anti-relaxation-coated alkali-metal vapor cells
• Hyperpolarized xenon nuclear spins detected by optical atomic magnetometry

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Coherent population trapping resonances with linearly polarized light for all-optical miniature atomic clocks
• Investigation of Anti-Relaxation Coatings for Alkali-Metal Vapor Cells Using Surface Science Techniques
• Atom Interferometry in a Warm Vapor
• Dual channel self-oscillating optical magnetometer
• Hyperfine Paschen-Back regime of Potassium D${}_2$ line observed by Doppler-free spectroscopy
• Rubidium dimers in paraffin-coated cells
• Relaxation of Cs atomic polarization at surface coatings characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy