CALCULATION OF A LINEAR STARK-EFFECT ON THE 254-NM LINE OF HG

An externally applied static electric field, by mixing opposite-parity states, can add electric-quadrupole and magnetic-dipole transition amplitudes to an allowed electric-dipole transition. The resulting interference among the amplitudes causes the absorption of resonance radiation to depend linearly on the static field and on the atomic polarization state. We present a calculation of this effect for the 254-nm line of Hg where the atomic polarization is specified by the ground-state nuclear spin, and the excited-state hyperfine structure is resolved. Possible experiments to measure this effect are pointed out.