Features of the Formation of the Spin Polarization of an Alkali Metal at the Resolution of Hyperfine Sublevels in the 2S1/2 State

Abstract

The optical orientation of the angular momenta of alkali atoms in the presence of a buffer gas (molecular nitrogen) has been studied experimentally. It has been shown that, even at a low concentration of molecular nitrogen in the cell, the excitation of ¹³³Cs atoms from the lower hyperfine level with F = 3, which belongs to the ground ²S_1/2 state, results in a larger amplitude of the magnetic resonance than the excitation from the hyperfine level with F = 4. This result has been theoretically explained under the assumption that the spin state of the alkali atomic nucleus does not change at collision with a nitrogen molecule, which is accompanied by a nonradiative transition of the alkali atom from the excited ²P_1/2 state to the ground ²S_1/2 state.