Pressure Broadening of Hyperfine Multiplets

Abstract

High resolution sub-Doppler spectroscopy enables the observation of the effects of collisions on the individual components of hyperfine (hf) multiplets. Whereas “standard” pressure broadening experiments supply an average broadening coefficient, one may expect that the different quantum numbers of the hf components are reflected in their broadening coefficients. It is the purpose of this study to investigate this phenomena. In general, one observes collisional processes that affect all lines equally and processes that affect them differently. Hyperfine multiplets may supply a convenient system to examine in detail different models for the case of overlapping lines as discussed below.