Collision-induced shifts of Rydberg levels of strontium

Measurements of spectral line shifts induced by collisions with rare gas perturbers are reported. High Rydberg states were prepared by multiphoton excitation using an excimer pumped tunable dye laser. A thermionic detector inside a heat pipe was used to collect the ionization products resulting from excited states. Analysis of the data for the shifts of the absorption transition to 5snd ¹D ₂ states in strontium is presented.