Abstract

We show that for a broad range of intensities the polarization ellipse of a laser beam can undergo rotation while propagating through an atomic vapor. The ellipse rotation is predicted to occur for the case in which the field is tuned near a J = 1/2 to J-1/2 transition of the atomic vapor and the input intensity is sufficiently strong to saturate the ground-state optical pumping but not the transition itself. Under these conditions, the ellipse rotation is independent of the laser intensity and, hence, is unlike the ellipse rotation predicted and observed by Maker and Terhune¹ for a tensor nonlinear susceptibility.

© 1991 Optical Society of America