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Polarization spectroscopy makes use of the polarization dependence of the nonlinear interaction between two laser beams in a gaseous medium.The laser-induced optical anisotropy is calculated using a rate equation approach, and the effect of this anisotropy on a polarized probe beam is derived.The method is useful for Doppler -free spectroscopy, for similification of molecular spectra, and for relaxation studies.A comparison with other Doppler -free saturation spectroscopy methods shows an advantage in signal -to -noise for polarization spectroscopy.Recent high resolution experiments with hydrogen, molecular sodium, and nitrogen dioxide are presented.

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