Abstract

The Spectral resolution of saturated absorption spectroscopy has been increased from Doppler broadening limited value 10⁶– 10⁶ to 10¹². In ref. 1, the evidence of most narrow saturated absorption resonances with absolute halfwidth 50 Hz was given and the possibility to proceed registering resonances with the width Γ ≤ 10 Hz. The new level of resolution requires the developing of the theory of saturated absorption and saturated dispersion spectroscopy that account for broadening factors whose contribution in the shape of broad resonances is negligible.

© 1994 Optical Society of America