Optical pumping in rubidium-87 — Impure polarization (a mixture of σ + , σ − and π light) on the (F g = 2 ↔ F e = 3) transition in the D2 line

We present results of a method for calculating optical pumping rates in 87 Rb, as described in [1]. We use light with an impure polarization (i.e. a mixture of σ + , σ − and π light) to populate a stretched angular momentum state in the F g = 2 hyperfine structure level of the ground state. The method is shown to function well for the studied system. Absolute scale level populations as functions of time, detuning, intensity, relative intensity of polarizations, and starting parameters are derived.