A novel approach to quantitative spectroscopy of atoms in a magnetic field and applications based on an atomic vapor cell with L=λ

Abstract

We describe the so-called λ-Zeeman method to investigate individual hyperfine transitions between Zeeman sublevels of atoms in an external magnetic field of 0.1mT–0.25T. Atoms are confined in a nanocell with thickness L=λ, where λ is the resonant wavelength (794 or 780nm for D1 or D2 line, respectively, of Rb). Narrow resonances in the transmission spectrum of the nanocell are split into several components in a magnetic field; their frequency positions and transition probabilities depend on the B field. Possible applications are described, such as magnetometers with nanometric spatial resolution and tunable atomic frequency references.