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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 23: Poster 2: Intersectional Session

Q 23.53: Poster

Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 18:00–21:00, P1

Interaction of two-level atoms with circularly polarized light — •Armen Hayrapetyan¹ and Stephan Fritzsche^2,3 — ¹Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Postfach 103980, D-69029 Heidelberg, Germany — ²Department of Physics, P.O. Box 3000, Fin-90014 University of Oulu, Finland — ³GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, D-64291 Darmstadt, Germany

The interaction of two-level atoms with circular-polarized light is examined to explore how the polarization properties of the light affect the population dynamics of the atoms. Equations are presented and discussed for the probability amplitudes of the atomic levels. It is shown that the inversion in the population in two-level atoms depends on both, the space and time coordinates, and can be expressed in terms of the invariant phase of the light.