Polarization Modulated CPT and Population Distributions Among Ground-State Zeeman Sublevels

SummaryChip-scale atomic clocks (CSAC) are the products of a burgeoning field of miniature precise timing efforts in support of low-SWaP space-qualified timing sources. Most CSACs are based on the coherent population trapping (CPT) effect, which uses laser light to selectively pump atoms into dark states. Because of the multiple accessible and inaccessible hyperfine Zeeman states, many atoms don’t contribute to the signal leading to a low signal-to-noise ratio of the CPT resonance. In turn, clock stability is limited. While solutions to this problem have been studied previously, the examination of the redistribution of atoms through the novel pumping solutions has not been thoroughly studied. This work provides continued exploration of an experimental effort to evaluate Zeeman end-state recovery schemes.