Cusp kernels for velocity-changing collisions.

We introduce an analytical kernel, the "cusp" kernel, to model the effects of velocity-changing collisions on optically pumped atoms in low-pressure buffer gases. Like the widely used Keilson-Storer kernel [J. Keilson and J.

Temperature-insensitive laser frequency locking near absorption lines.

Combined magnetically induced circular dichroism and Faraday rotation of an atomic vapor are used to develop a variant of the dichroic atomic vapor laser lock that eliminates lock sensitivity to temperature fluctuations of the cell. Operating conditions that eliminate first-order sensitivity to temperature fluctuations can be determined by low-frequency temperature modulation. This temperature-insensitive gyrotropic laser lock can be accurately understood with a simple model, that is in excellent agreement with observations in potassium vapor at laser frequencies in a 2 GHz range about the 770.

Nonlinear pressure shifts of alkali-metal atoms in inert gases.

Precise measurements show that the microwave resonance frequencies of ground-state Rb or Cs atoms have a nonlinear dependence on the pressure of the buffer gases Ar and Kr. No nonlinearities were observed in the gases He or N(2). These observations strongly suggest that the nonlinearities are due to the van der Waals molecules that form in Ar and Kr, but not in He or N(2).

Push-pull laser-atomic oscillator.

A vapor of alkali-metal atoms in the external cavity of a semiconductor laser, pumped with a time-independent injection current, can cause the laser to self-modulate at the "field-independent 0-0 frequency" of the atoms. Push-pull optical pumping by the modulated light drives most of the atoms into a coherent superposition of the two atomic sublevels with an azimuthal quantum number m=0. The atoms modulate the optical loss of the cavity at the sharply defined 0-0 hyperfine frequency.

Intrinsic impurities in glass alkali-vapor cells.

We report NMR measurements of metallic (133)Cs in glass cells. The solid-liquid phase transition was studied by observing the NMR peaks arising from these two phases; surprisingly, many cells yielded two additional NMR peaks below the melting point. We attribute these signals to two distinct impurities which can dissolve in the liquid alkali metal and affect its chemical shift.