Letokhov-Chebotayev intracavity trapping spectroscopy of H$_2$
Abstract
In the early days of laser spectroscopy Letokhov and Chebotayev proposed a scheme for measuring narrow spectral lines where the resolution is not restricted to Doppler effects because the molecules are entrained in a standing-wave light field. Now, such one-dimensional trapping in the intensity maxima of an intracavity field, slightly detuned from resonance, is experimentally demonstrated in the measurement of the very weak S(0) (2-0) quadrupole overtone transition in H at 1189 nm. The trapping manifests as an extremely narrow absorption feature at the predicted zero-recoil position, a 70 kHz shift from the blue-recoil component observed in Lamb-dip spectroscopy. A quantitative analysis of the saturation and trapping conditions supports the findings.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2510.07455,
title = {Letokhov-Chebotayev intracavity trapping spectroscopy of H$_2$},
author = {Wim Ubachs and Frank M. J. Cozijn and Meissa L. Diouf and Clement Lauzin and Hubert Jóźwiak and Piotr Wcisło},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.07455},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
5 pages, 4 figures