Abstract

Magnetically induced birefringence (the Cotton–Mouton effect) of argon, neon, and helium atoms was measured with a high-sensitivity ellipsometer with a 790-nm GaAlAs diode laser. The detection limit of the change in ellipticity was attained to a shot-noise-limited value of ${10}^{-10} \mathrm{rad}.$ We determined the absolute values of the ellipticity changes caused by noble atoms using the light extinction ratio of the ellipsometer as an absolute standard, with this ratio measured by a method based on Malus’s law. The measured values of the Cotton–Mouton constant were $(7.1\pm 2.5)\times {10}^{-10} {\mathrm{T}}^{-2} {\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$ for He atoms, $(1.3\pm 0.5)\times {10}^{-9} {\mathrm{T}}^{-2} {\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$ for Ne atoms, and $(1.1\pm 0.2)\times {10}^{-8} {\mathrm{T}}^{-2} {\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$ for Ar atoms at a gas pressure of $1.52\times {10}^5 \mathrm{Pa}$ and a gas temperature of 285–293 K.

© 2003 Optical Society of America

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