Self-induced adiabatic inversion under one-photon resonance conditions

An analysis is made of the interaction between an alkali metal atom and a strong laser pulse in the presence of a static magnetic field. It is assumed that the carrier frequency of the pulse is close to the frequency of the S_1/2–P_3/2 transition. It is shown that a weak ellipticity of the polarization of the pulse may give rise to a self-induced adiabatic population inversion. This effect can be studied by measuring the emf associated with a change in the average magnetic moment of an atom. An investigation is made of the dependence of the amplitude and duration of this emf signal on the laser pulse parameters. Changes in the structure of the signal associated with changes in the pulse frequency are discussed.