COHERENT ELLIPTIC STATES OF ATOMS IN NONORTHOGONAL E-FIELDS AND B-FIELDS

The dynamics of coherent elliptic states in time-dependent electric an d magnetic fields has been studied and it is shown that a linear Stark state may be transformed adiabatically into a circular Zeeman state t hrough a continuous range of coherent elliptic states provided the fie lds vary slowly and are not parallel. The orientation vectors of the e lliptic states rotate relative to the fields during the adiabatic tran sformation except when the fields are orthogonal. The condition for ad iabatic behaviour is established for an easily realizable choice of fi eld variation.