Sub-natural linewidths in excited-state spectroscopy

Abstract

We investigate, theoretically and experimentally, absorption on an excited-state atomic transition in a thermal vapor where the lower state is coherently pumped. We find that the transition linewidth can be sub-natural, i.e. less than the combined linewidth of the lower and upper state. For the specific case of the 6P_{3/2} -> 7S_{1/2} transition in room temperature cesium vapor, we measure a minimum linewidth of 6.6 MHz compared with the natural width of 8.5 MHz. Using perturbation techniques, an expression for the complex susceptibility is obtained which provides excellent agreement with the measured spectra.

9 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (8)

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• Rydberg-Blockade Effects in Autler-Townes Spectra of Ultracold Strontium
• Electric field sensing near the surface microstructure of an atom chip using cold Rydberg atoms
• Ergodicity breaking from Rydberg clusters in a driven-dissipative many-body system
• Probing an excited-state atomic transition using hyperfine quantum beat spectroscopy
• Microwave-coupled optical bistability in driven and interacting Rydberg gases
• Paschen-Back effect and Rydberg-state diamagnetism in vapor-cell electromagnetically induced transparency