Abstract
We describe a method for determining the number density of the alkali metal vapor by use of an evanescent wave in a single total internal reflection. The method is simple to use, and it has the following useful features: It is most suitable for determining the number density of dense alkali metal vapor and it permits the measurement of the alkali metal vapor number density in the vicinity of cell surfaces. Using this method, we measured the number density of Rb metal vapor in the vicinity of the cell wall in cells that contain only Rb metal and no buffer gas; we found that there is no systematic difference between the Rb number density near the surface and that in the bulk.
© 2001 Optical Society of America
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