David Sisson
Faculty Sponsor: Yukich
Using circularly polarized light one can “pump” electrons into a well-defined quantum state. Quantum transition rules allow for filling of the first excited state of the Rb87 and Rb85 atoms. Within an existing weak magnetic field, applying RF photons resonant with the M states allows for measuring of the g-factor. The g-factor describes the distances between different spin state alignments. Rapidly turning off and on the RF frequency causes a filing and emptying of an excited state, the decaying exponential function occurs at the Larmor frequency which can further be used to confirm the g-factors. The theory and experiment have a high degree of agreement.