Magnetic Field Dependence of Polarized Scattering on Potassium

Physics – Quantum Physics

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

The polarization that is generated by scattering of light on atoms depends on the atomic quantum number structure. According to standard scattering theory the sodium D_1 (5896 Å) and potassium D_1 (7699 Å) lines should be intrinsically unpolarizable. Since however the existence of D_1 scattering polarization in the solar spectrum has been well documented but resisted theoretical explanations, we have carried out a laboratory experiment to find out if this is a problem of solar physics or of quantum physics. We find that the polarization matrix for scattering of the Stokes vector in the potassium D_1 line exhibits a rich structure that changes dramatically when the field strength is varied in the sub-gauss regime. In contrast, standard scattering theory predicts zero polarization, even when optical pumping of the magnetic sub-levels of the hyperfine structure multiplet is accounted for.

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