Precise measurement of Stark shifts using frequency modulated laser beams

Summary form only given. Stark shifts are determined using an electro-optically modulated laser beam to excite an atomic beam. The voltage required for atoms excited by the laser beam in an electric field to be simultaneously in resonance as atoms excited by a frequency sideband of the laser in a field free region is measured. We are studying excited S and D states of rubidium that are stepwise excited using diode and ring dye lasers. The measured Stark shifts permit the determination of the scalar and tensor polarizabilities that can be used to test theory.