Influence of Coupling of the Angular Momentum and Nuclear Spin on Resonance Fluorescence Polarization

Resonance fluorescence polarization for rotational transitions allowed by selection rules was calculated considering coupling of total nuclear spin from zero to five with the molecular angular momentum. It was shown that the level hyperfine structure of almost all rotational transitions led to strong depolarizing effects. The limiting anisotropy and degree of circularity were especially strongly reduced for small angular momentum quantum numbers up to the total nuclear moment of the molecule. This applied to both positive and negative values of the anisotropy and degree of circularity.