Summary: High-resolution measurement of the pressure broadening and shift of the Cs D1 and D2 lines
by N2 and He buffer gases
A. Andalkar* and R. B. Warrington
Department of Physics, Box 351560, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560
Received 14 September 2001; published 13 February 2002
We have measured the pressure broadening and shift of the cesium D1 894 nm and D2 852 nm lines by
nitrogen and helium buffer gases at pressures of 0­160 Torr using high-resolution spectroscopy with tunable
external-cavity diode lasers. This measurement has a precision of about 1%, which significantly improves upon
previously published measurements for the Cs D1 and D2 lines in N2 and He buffer gases.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.65.032708 PACS number s : 34.20. b, 32.70.Jz
I. INTRODUCTION
The broadening and shift of atomic spectral lines by col-
lisions with neutral atoms has been studied extensively since
the very beginning of atomic physics 1­3 , especially in
systems such as the alkali metals and noble gases, which are
important in the field of optical pumping. However, for the
particular case of cesium, there are relatively few published
studies of pressure broadening. Most of these measurements
date from the era of Fabry-Perot and diffraction grating spec-
trometers, and the enormous advances in tunable laser tech-

Source: Andalkar, Amar - Department of Physics, University of Washington at Seattle
Washington at Seattle, University of - Department of Physics, Parity and Time Reversal Group

Collections: Physics