Precision measurement of the Stark shift of the cesium D lines.

Abstract

The dc Stark shift of the cesium D lines is observed in the low-field limit where the induced shift is small compared with the various hyperfine splittings. On the D2 line, modification by the electric field of the dipole transition rates to the various excited-state hyperfine levels must be taken into account in order to interpret our results. From our observations the following atomic polarizabilities in units of ${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}24}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{3}$ are deduced: ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}_{0}$(${6\mathrm{P}}_{1/2}$)-${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}_{0}$(${6\mathrm{S}}_{1/2}$)=143.8\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.4, ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}_{0}$(${6\mathrm{p}}_{3/2}$)-${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}_{0}$(${6\mathrm{S}}_{1/2}$)=187.3\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.9, and ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}_{2}$(${6\mathrm{P}}_{3/2}$)=-38.6\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.2.