Level-splitting effects in resonant four-wave mixing

Resonant spectral structures of four-wave mixing (FWM) in molecular sodium are investigated. For a double- ? configuration with strong-weak-strong-weak fields, split components in FWM spectra induced by the strong pump fields are observed. It is shown that the split components merge into a single peak for a certain ratio of the strong field intensities. A correlation between the level-splitting effects and the saturation behavior of the FWM signal is experimentally demonstrated.