Determination of the structure of hyperfine sublevels of Rb in strong magnetic fields by means of the coherent population trapping technique

The splitting of hyperfine sublevels of the ⁸⁵Rb atom in strong magnetic fields has been studied by means of the coherent population trapping technique. Narrow resonances with a high signal-to-noise ratio have been detected in a 30-μm-thick spectroscopic cell. The magnetic field in the direction transverse to the laser beams has been created by permanent magnets and has reached 1600 G. Owing to the exclusive narrowness of the cell, the field in it is almost uniform. The break of the coupling between the electronic and nuclear moments, as well as the transition to the Paschen-Back regime in magnetic fields above 600 G, has been observed. The derivatives of the frequency shifts of the observed resonances and their asymptotic values in strong magnetic fields have been determined in terms of the magnetic field strength. The experimental results have been interpreted within a theoretical model based on the known constants of the hyperfine structure of the Rb atom.