Abstract
A combined experimental and theoretical study of transition matrix elements of the transition in atomic Cs is reported. Measurements of the polarization-dependent two-photon excitation spectrum associated with the transition were made in an range on the low-frequency side of the resonance. The measurements depend parametrically on the relative transition matrix elements, but also are sensitive to far-off-resonance transitions. In addition, as the measured quantities are ratios of polarization-dependent intensities at a single-excitation frequency, they are quite insensitive to a variety of common-mode systematic effects; matrix-element ratios may then be determined to high accuracy. In the past, the matrix-element dependence has yielded a generalized sum rule, the value of which is dependent on sums of relative two-photon transition matrix elements. In the present case, best available determinations from other experiments are combined with theoretical matrix elements to extract the ratio of transition matrix elements for the transition. The resulting experimental value of 1.423(2) is in excellent agreement with the theoretical value, calculated using a relativistic all-order method, of 1.425(2).
- Received 23 August 2003
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.69.022502
©2004 American Physical Society