Multiple frequency radiofrequency-optical resonance in a four-level model of rubidium atoms with optical pumping

Abstract

We consider a four-level model for alkali metal atoms with optical pumping by nonresonant light under conditions when magnetic dipole transitions are induced between energy sublevels of the hyperfine structure in the ground state. We present the dependences of the observed signal as a function of the frequency detuning of the applied rf fields relative to the resonant value, calculated in the density matrix formalism. We note the absence of a light shift in the radiofrequency-optical resonance signal, independent of the amplitude of the rf field and the optical and thermal relaxation rates. We show that when using a modulation technique for phase detection of the signal, its maximum discrimination ability is observed under conditions for simultaneous modulation of the pump light intensity and the frequency of the rf field, which in principle does not occur in the classical two-level model for optically oriented atoms in magnetic resonance.