Self-rotation of resonant elliptically polarized light in collision-free rubidium vapor - art. no. 043814

Self-rotation (SR) of elliptically polarized light resonant with atoms in a collision-free vapor is investigated experimentally and theoretically. Res ults of density matrix calculations are compared to measurements of SR on t he Rb D1 and D2 lines. It is noted that SR effects involving individual hyp erfine transitions are suppressed due to Doppler broadening, and so previou sly unrecognized effects arising from the interaction of light with multipl e hyperfine transitions can become dominant.