MAGNETOOPTICAL EFFECTS OF SATURATING LIGHT FOR ARBITRARY FIELD DIRECTION

We study magneto-optically induced rotation and ellipticity of resonan t linearly polarized light incident on an atomic vapour. We allow for an arbitrary strength and direction of the magnetic field, and arbitra ry degree of saturation. For magneto-optical rotation, the result is t he sum of an absorptive and a dispersive contribution, which represent a generalized Voigt and Faraday effect respectively. These terms are not independent, since both depend on the steady-state density matrix of the atoms in the field. A similar separation is found for the induc ed ellipticity, with dispersive and absorptive terms interchanged. The rotation angle is numerically evaluated for a simple atomic transitio n. The symmetry properties of the dipole polarization are discussed. ( C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.