Electromagnetically induced transparency resonances inverted in magnetic field

The phenomenon of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is investigated in a Λ-system of the 87Rb D1 line in an external transverse magnetic field. Two spectroscopic cells having strongly different values of the relaxation rates γrel are used: an Rb cell with antirelaxation coating (L ~ 1 cm) and an Rb nanometric- thin cell (nanocell) with a thickness of the atomic vapor column L = 795 nm. For the EIT in the nanocell, we have the usual EIT resonances characterized by a reduction in the absorption (dark resonance (DR)), whereas for the EIT in the Rb cell with an antirelaxation coating, the resonances demonstrate an increase in the absorption (bright resonances (BR)). We suppose that such an unusual behavior of the EIT resonances (i.e., the reversal of the sign from DR to BR) is caused by the influence of an alignment process. The influence of alignment strongly depends on the configuration of the coupling and probe frequencies as well as on the configuration of the magnetic field.