Spectroscopy of Rb - crossover peaks more intense?

[Mattcr_95]

Hi,

I am currently looking into the atomic spectroscopy of Rb using saturated absorption spectroscopy. So far I can observe the crossover peaks with hyperfine splitting. I am aware of why crossover peaks occur however do not understand why these transitions are so much more intense than the other peaks?

Thanks

 

[gre_abandon]

I know how saturation spectroscopy works but I am not sure which peaks you are referring by crossover peaks.

 

[Twigg]

I know how saturation spectroscopy works but I am not sure which peaks you are referring by crossover peaks.

He means the peaks caused when the pump laser excites atoms from one transition's Gaussian tail that overlap in frequency with atoms interacting with the probe beam from the Gaussian tail of a different transition. C. J. Foot explains it and uses the term crossover resonance in Chapter 7 or so of Atomic Physics.

Unfortunately I don't remember why the crossover peaks appear bigger. If you have access to such a setup, you may want to experiment with the power of the pump beam to see if you can't control the relative sizes of the pure transitions and the crossovers. Power broadening may be part of the answer.