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VOLUME 58 (1993) | ISSUE 7 | PAGE 501
Radiative transfer of a nonequilibrium atomic velocity distribution between degenerate sublevels of an atomic ground state during optical pumping in an intense monochromatic field
Optical pumping on the }P2 — 3Z)2 (1*5 -» 2p8) transition of Ne20 in intense monochromatic laser light has been studied experimentally. A coherent radiative transfer of a nonequilibrium atomic velocity distribution between degenerate sublevels of the atomic ground state has been detected. The transfer is to a sublevel which is not interacting with the intense field. The population distribution of this sublevel acquires a sharp peak at the field frequency. The height of this population peak is more than twice the height of the Doppler pedestal. The coherence of the population transfer makes it possible to directly observe a Stark splitting of sublevels of the excited state in the field of counterpropagating waves. The observed effect can be interpreted as an analog of coherent trapping of population in a nonabsorbing atomic state in an optical-pumping cycle, with the possibility of an arbitrary selection of the velocity of the atom. The results open the way to an effective method for selecting polarized atoms and for controlling their motion.