COHERENCE EFFECTS IN FREQUENCY-MODULATED LASER SPECTROSCOPY

The purpose of this work was to investigate coherence effects in the interaction of two counterpropagating electromagnetic waves with the atoms of a gas, in the case in which one of the waves is weak and frequency modulated, while the other is sufficiently intense to cause saturation. Solving the equations for the density matrix in first-order perturbation theory, we obtained in analytic form the real part of the susceptibility integrated over the atom's velocity, expressed in terms of the rate equation model (REM) predictions plus the coherence corrections. The relaxation constants of the levels involved in the transition were kept different in order to allow a wider range of applications of the results. Calculated line shapes related either to the frequency-modulated (FM) sideband or to the ordinary dispersion techniques are presented. The REM approximation and the coherence corrections are shown in detail for an optical line which is of interest for frequency standard investigations.