Resonance spectroscopy using a sodium atomic beam and a CW single-frequency dye laser

F. Schuda and C. R. Stroud, Jr.

JOSA 63, 1318 (1973).

The authors describe experiments with a c.w. single-frequency dye laser and a thermal atomic beam of sodium atoms, aimed at studying the details of the absorption and emission line-shapes for a particular hyperfine component of the sodium D₂ line. They review briefly the experimental apparatus including the description of a dye laser operating in a single mode, which is continuously tunable at constant intensity over a range of a few hundred MHz. The laser is stable to 3 MHz over a period of 10 s and is stable to less than 1 MHz over the 10-ms period required to scan over a few hundred MHz. They then present the results of a measurement of the scattering cross section as a function of both the laser intensity and the detuning from resonance; and also the spectrum of the scattered light as a function of intensity and detuning. They compare these results with the predictions of quantum and semiclassical radiation theory, and describe some further related experiments possible with this basic approach.

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