Role of spontaneous emission through operating transition in probe-field spectroscopy of two-level systems

Analytical and numerical investigations are carried out of the effect of spontaneous decay through operating transition on the shape of a resonance in the work of a probe field under a strong field applied to the transition. A narrow nonlinear resonance arising on transitions with long-living lower level in the work of a probe field can manifest itself in the form of a traditional minimum and a peak as a function of the first Einstein coefficient for the operating transition. The transformation of the resonance from a minimum to a peak is attributed to the specific character of relaxation of lower-level population beatings on a closed or almost closed transition (the decay of the upper level occurs completely or almost completely through the operating transition).