Light Propagation Through a Polarized Alkali Vapor in a Magnetic Field at an Arbitrary Angle

We calculate the wavenumbers and polarization vectors for the two eigenmodes of light propagation through a polarized alkali vapor in a magnetic field. The wavenumbers correspond to the atomic polarizabilities for absorbing photons with ±1 unit of angular momentum. If there is an angle θ between the light propagation direction and the magnetic field, then, to a very good approximation, the wavenumbers are modified by simply multiplying the alkali polarization PA by cos(θ). The polarization eigenvectors correspond to the circular polarization basis of light with a small admixture of linear polarization components both parallel and perpendicular to the light propagation direction.