We review the shift and broadening of hyperfine resonance lines of alkali-metal atoms in buffer gases. We present a simple theory both for the shift and the broadening induced by He gas. The theory is parametrized by the scattering length of slow electrons on He atoms and by the measured hyperfine intervals and binding energies of the $S$ states of alkali-metal atoms. The calculated shifts and their temperature dependence are in good agreement with the published experimental data. The calculated broadening is 1.6 times smaller than the recent measurements, and more than 20 times smaller than the earlier measurements. We attribute much of the linewidth in the earlier experiments to possible small temperature gradients and the resulting inhomogeneous line broadening from the temperature dependence of hyperfine frequency shift at constant buffer-gas pressure.

• Received 5 December 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.69.042716