2002/03/31 by D. Budker, W. Gawlik, D. F. Kimball +3 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.74.1153
51 pages, 23 figures, to appear in Rev. Mod. Phys. in Oct. 2002, Figure added, typos corrected, text edited for clarity
arxiv created 2002/09/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
In this article, we review the history, current status, physical mechanisms, experimental methods, and applications of nonlinear magneto-optical effects in atomic vapors. We begin by describing the pioneering work of Macaluso and Corbino over a century ago on linear magneto-optical effects (in which the properties of the medium do not depend on the light power) in the vicinity of atomic resonances, and contrast these effects with various nonlinear magneto-optical phenomena that have been studied both theoretically and experimentally since the late 1960s. In recent years, the field of nonlinear magneto-optics has experienced a revival of interest that has led to a number of developments, including the observation of ultra-narrow (1-Hz) magneto-optical resonances, applications in sensitive magnetometry, nonlinear magneto-optical tomography, and the possibility of a search for parity- and time-reversal-invariance violation in atoms.