Collision-induced phase in macroscopic optical coherence
P. J. Laverty, A. M. Bacon, J. E. Thomas
Recently, we have developed new techniques to study collision induced phase in macroscopic optical coherence for the first time1,2. These techniques have been used to study the imaginary part of the collision‐induced velocity change distribution for 174Yb two level optical radiators in vapors. The results provide complimentary information to the real part of the velocity change distribution measured via the intensity of optical transients3. As a result of these studies, a number of new and quite unexpected features have emerged. These include the observations that the imaginary part of velocity change distribution appears to lack a diffractive component in contrast to the real part which is predominantly diffractive. Further, the imaginary part exhibits relatively large angle scattering, about ten times the diffractive width. In this scattering angle region, the optical coherence scatters through angles which are large compared to diffraction angles yet too small for the stationary phase approximation to the scattering amplitude (i.e., classical scattering) to be valid. Hence, the experiments probe the interesting region where the transition from quantum to classical scattering occurs.
AIP conference proceedings•Jan 1, 1990•0 citations