Sub-Doppler spectroscopy based on optical pumping and transit relaxation of atoms in a thin gas cell

The paper is the review of methods, achievements, and possibilities of the recently elaborated and well tested high-resolution laser spectroscopy based on sub-Doppler absorption and polarization resonances (on centers of quantum transitions), which arise because of the optical pumping and specific transit relaxation of atoms (molecules) in a thin cell with a rarefied gas. Theoretical basis of this spectroscopy is presented. Experimental technique and results on the record of the sub-Doppler spectral structure of Cs and Rb atoms and on the frequency stabilization of diode lasers by given spectroscopy methods are discussed.