Natural broadening of atomic spectral lines in the presence of energy-level superposition

R. Kh. Gainutdinov, Il'dar R. Al'Miev

Evgeny N. Bodunov, Viktor A. Malyshev

Leonid A. Vainshtein, Igor I Sobel'man, E. A. Iukov

Gar-Wing Truong, James D. Anstie, Eric F. May +2 more

Here, we report a measurement scheme for determining an absorption profile with an accuracy imposed solely by photon shot noise. We demonstrate the power of this technique by measuring the absorption of cesium vapor with an uncertainty at the 2-ppm level. This extremely high signal-to-noise ratio allows us to directly observe the homogeneous line-shape component of the spectral profile, even in the presence of Doppler broadening, by measuring the spectral profile at a frequency detuning more than 200 natural linewidths from the line center. We then use this tool to discover an optically induced broadening process that is quite distinct from the well-known power broadening phenomenon.

G. L. Klimchitskaya, Yu. V. Pavlov

A theoretical investigation is made of spectral lines of the hydrogen atom which interact with constant and microwave electric fields of different intensities and frequencies. It is shown that to obtain an adequate form of the spectral lines one must from the very beginning take into account the fine structure of the hydrogen levels.

Peter Hannaford