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Physical Review Letters

Measurement of the Fine-Structure Splitting of the 4F State in Atomic Sodium Using Two-Photon Spectroscopy with a Resonant Intermediate State

P. F. Liao, John E. Bjorkholm

Published Jun 28, 1976• 36 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The fine-structure splitting of the $4F$ state of atomic sodium is determined using the technique of two-photon spectroscopy with a resonant intermediate state. The sensitivity of this Doppler-free technique allows observation of the electric-dipole-forbidden $3S\ensuremath{\rightarrow}4F$ two-photon transition. The $4F$ fine-structure splitting is found to be 229\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}4 MHz. Its sign and magnitude are hydrogenic, in complete contrast to the $D$ levels of Na.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.36.1543

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