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PUBLICATIONS

Thermalization of velocity-selected excited-state populations by resonance exchange collisions and radiation trapping

Published

Author(s)

J Huennekens, A Allegrini, Zeina J. Kubarych, R Sagle, R K. Namiotka

Abstract

Populations of excited atoms that all have the same z component of velocity can be produced by pumping a vapor with a narrow-band laser. This velocity-selected population is then thermalized by velocity-changing collisions. However, in a pure vapor, even at low densities where velocity-changing collisions can be ignored, the mechanisms of radiation trapping and resonance exchange collisions can still lead to substantial thermalization of excited-atom velocity distributions. In this paper, we present data demonstrating these effects. We compare our data with results from a simple model of these processes. The model is in qualitative agreement with the experimental results.
Citation
Physical Review
Volume
A, 51 (6)
Pub Type
Journals

Keywords

Atomic collision, Laser spectroscopy, Optical physics
Metrology and Manufacturing

Citation

Huennekens, J. , Allegrini, A. , Kubarych, Z. , Sagle, R. and Namiotka, R. (1995), Thermalization of velocity-selected excited-state populations by resonance exchange collisions and radiation trapping, Physical Review (Accessed December 26, 2024)

Issues

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Created May 31, 1995, Updated October 12, 2021