Sub-natural linewidths in excited-state spectroscopy

We investigate, theoretically and experimentally, absorption on an excited-state atomic transition in a thermal vapor where the lower state is coherently pumped. We find that the transition linewidth can be sub-natural, i.e. less than the combined linewidth of the lower and upper state. For the specific case of the 6P_{3/2} -> 7S_{1/2} transition in room temperature cesium vapor, we measure a minimum linewidth of 6.6 MHz compared with the natural width of 8.5 MHz. Using perturbation techniques, an expression for the complex susceptibility is obtained which provides excellent agreement with the measured spectra.

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