Observation on the absorption of linearly polarized light by 133Cs atoms with optically resolved hyperfine structure

The absorption of linearly polarized light by Cs-133 atoms is desired to be well known in many applications of atomic physics. For implementing this requirement, a simplified analytical form for the absorption of linearly polarized light by Cs-133 atoms with optically resolved hyperfine structure is derived. Based on the obtained analytical form, optical absorption cross-sections of Cs-133 atoms are simulated. An experiment is designed to further study the absorption of linearly polarized light by Cs-133 atoms. Theory and experiment show that the influence of linearly polarized light on the distribution of Cs-133 atoms will in turn affect the optical absorption. In order to demonstrate this kind of influence, an example for the measurement of the Cs-133 vapor density is shown theoretically and experimentally, and a method of polynomial fit is proposed to reduce this influence.