Trace of evanescent wave polarization by atomic vapor spectroscopy

Abstract

Abstract Various efforts have been made to determine the polarization state of evanescent waves in different structures. The present study shows the reliability of magneto-optical spectroscopy of D1 and D2 lines of rubidium metal and polarization-dependent transitions to investigate and trace the changes in the polarization state of evanescent fields during total internal reflection over different angles. For this purpose, we design and fabricate atomic- evanescent Rb vapor cells and examine the effect of polarization changes of evanescent waves, depending on the propagation direction of evanescent waves in anisotropic rubidium vapor media under 88 mT external magnetic field by different configurations theoretically and experimentally. The results confirm the dependency of allowed $$\sigma^{ \pm } { }\;{\text{and}}\;\pi$$ σ ± and π transitions on the magneto optical configuration as a tool to determine changes in the polarization of evanescent waves in more complicated wave states in anisotropic media.