The influence of the coherence between atomic magnetic sublevels on nondegenerate four-wave parametric light scattering is theoretically studied taking into account the multiplet structure of the atomic lev-els. The theory is developed using the irreducible tensor-operator representation. This provides the possibility of taking into account the relaxation, which is due not only to a nonuniform sublevel population, but to coher-ence between the sublevels as well. A detailed analysis of the parametric wave-coupling coefficient reveals three physical mechanisms: population, cross population, and Zeeman coherence. The results obtained can be used, in particular, in ultrahigh-resolution spectroscopy to determine the relaxation parameters of polarization moments for the dipole-forbidden atomic transitions.
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