Anomalies in resonant absorption line profiles of atoms with large hyperfine splitting

We examine a monochromatic absorption line in the velocity-nonselective excitation of atoms when the components of the hyperfine stricture of the electronic ground states are optically pumped. We show that the absorption lines possess unusual substructures for some values of the hyperfine splitting of the ground state (which exceed the Doppler absorption linewidth severalfold). These substructures in the absorption spectrum are most apparent if the hyperfine structure of the excited electronic state is taken into account. We calculate the absorption spectra of monochromatic light near the D ₁ and D ₂ lines of atomic rubidium ^85,87Rb. With real hyperfine splitting taken into account, the D ₁ and D ₂ lines are modeled by 4-and 6-level diagrams, respectively. Finally, we show that atomic rubidium vapor can be successfully used to observe the spectral features experimentally. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 93–106 (January 1997)