The time-dependent population dynamics of hyperfine (HF) sublevels of n 2 p 3 / 2 atomic states upon laser excitation in a cold medium of alkali atoms is examined. We demonstrate some peculiarities of the absorption HF multiplet formation in D2-line resulting from a long interaction time (∼200 μ s) interaction between light and Na ( n = 3 ) and Cs ( n = 6 ) atoms in a cold and slow sub-thermal ( T ∼ 1 K) beam. We analytically describe a number of D2-line-shape effects that are of interest in spectroscopic studies of cold dusty white dwarfs: broadening by optical pumping, intensity redistribution within components of D2-line HF multiplet for partially closed transitions and asymmetry of absorption lines induced by AC Stark shifts for cyclic transitions.
