Experimental investigation of the Rb (6S or 4D)-rare gas interaction: determination of interaction potentials and oscillator strengths

The absorption profiles of the far wings of rubidium 5S to 6S and 5S to 4D forbidden transitions in the presence of a rare gas perturber (argon or helium) are experimentally investigated. The quasistatic interpretation of the temperature dependence of the profiles gives information about the excited state potential curves and the oscillator strengths of the various transitions. The experimental results are compared with calculated potentials and, particularly in the case of helium, with the l-dependent pseudo-potentials available for alkali-helium pairs.