Dynamic Stark shift and alignment-to-orientation conversion

We have observed alignment-to-orientation conversion in the (5d6p) 1P state of atomic barium due to the combined effects of a static Zeeman shift and a dynamic Stark shift associated with the electric field of a pulsed laser beam. The measurements yield a value for the frequency-dependent tensor polarizability of the state in reasonable agreement with a simple perturbation theory calculation. With a tunable laser producing the dynamic Stark shift, we can both enhance the magnitude of the effect by tuning close to a resonance and reverse the sign of the orientation by tuning above or below the resonance. This method of producing an oriented atomic state is quite general, and with easily available field strengths can produce large orientations