Steady state of atoms in a resonant field with elliptical polarization

A. V. Taichenachev, A. M. Tumaikin, V. I. Yudin, G. Nienhuis

Published 2004-01-20, updated 2004-03-01Version 2

We present a complete set of analytical and invariant expressions for the steady-state density matrix of atoms in a resonant radiation field with arbitrary intensity and polarization. The field drives the closed dipole transition with arbitrary values of the angular momenta $J_{g}$ and $J_{e}$ of the ground and excited state. The steady-state density matrix is expressed in terms of spherical harmonics of a complex direction given by the field polarization vector. The generalization to the case of broad-band radiation is given. We indicate various applications of these results.