Bistability and polarization of the radiation emitted by a xenon laser as a result of the 5d[3/2]10–6p[3/2]1 transition in the 136Xe isotope in a weak magnetic field

A study was made of the polarization of the radiation emitted by a laser with an isotropic resonator in weak magnetic fields. Polarization bistability was discovered and the critical pressure and magnetic field at which it appeared were determined. The circular amplitudes representation and allowance for the real Zeeman structure of the transition were used to analyze possible regimes in two limiting cases of line broadening. The conditions were determined for the appearance of bistability and it was found that they were independent of the nature of broadening. The critical pressure was found to be related to a change in the sign of the difference Γ₁–Γ₂ and the critical magnetic field to the loss of the coherent coupling induced by collisions with ³He. The experimental results were in full agreement with calculations carried out assuming a homogeneously broadened line.