Stark Effect Investigation of D States in 85 Rb and 133 Cs Using Level Crossing Spectroscopy with a CW Dye Laser

Stark effect investigations in the 6, 7 and 8 2 D 3/2,5/2 levels of 85 Rb and the 8, 9 and 10 2 D 3/2,5/2 levels of 133 Cs were performed with the level crossing technique. The levels were populated in a two-step excitation process, involving a CW tunable dye laser. The tensor polarizability of all states was measured and a good agreement with theoretical values, obtained with the Coulomb approximation, is found. Furthermore, the signs of the dipole interaction constants, determined to absolute value in earlier experiments, could be inferred. The sign was found to be positive for the 2 D 3/2 states and negative for the 2 D 5/2 states, indicating strong polarization effects in the magnetic hyperfine interaction.