Polarizability measurements of the 8s S-2(1/2) and 9s S-2(1/2) states of atomic cesium

Abstract

We report hyperfine-resolved scalar polarizabilities for cesium's 8s S-2(1/2) and 9s S-2(1/2) states using resonant two-photon spectroscopy in both an effusive beam and a vapor cell. Electric-field strengths are measured in situ, and the frequency scale is directly referenced to the ground-state hyperfine splitting of atomic rubidium. The measured 8s S-2(1/2) scalar polarizability is 38 370 +/- 380a(0)(3), which agrees well with previously reported theoretical and experimental values. The measured 9s S-2(1/2) scalar polarizability is 150 700 +/- 1500a(0)(3), which agrees within 2 sigma with the theory, but we are unaware of previous measurements. We verify that the 8s S-2(1/2) state polarizability is independent of the hyperfine level, placing an upper limit of 200 +/- 260a(0)(3) on the differential polarizability-this agrees with previous observations. We also measure a null differential polarizability between the hyperfine levels for the 9s S-2(1/2) of 490 +/- 450a(0)(3).