Energy-pooling collisions between low-lying excited states of Ba have been studied. We have used a CW dye laser to excite the level in Ba. Radiative decay and collisions with Ba or buffer-gas atoms (Ar, He) populate also the , and metastable levels. The spatial density distributions of these excited levels were measured by the absorption of lines from a Ba hollow-cathode lamp as a function of laser frequency. When the laser was on the exact atomic resonance we observed fluorescence from the , , , , , , and states populated by energy-pooling collisions of Ba( , ). By changing the buffer gas pressure the fluorescence intensity ratio between - and - transitions changes dramatically. This is found to be due to redistribution of population among metastable levels, both in magnitude and space. In addition, we have found that the and metastable levels are also populated when the laser is tuned to the blue from the 553.5 nm line under which conditions a pronounced red-shifted light cone (cone emission) is observed.
We report experimental rate coefficients for the energy-pooling collisions Cs(6
P1/2)+Cs(6
P1/2)\ensuremath{\rightarrow}Cs(6
S1/2)+Cs(${\mathit{nl}}_{\mathit{J}\ensuremath{'}}$) and Cs(6
P3/2)+Cs(6
P3/2)\ensuremath{\rightarrow}Cs(6
S1/2)+Cs(${\mathit{nl}}_{\mathit{J}\ensuremath{'}}$) where ${\mathit{nl}}_{\mathit{J}\ensuremath{'}}$=7
P1/2, 7
P3/2, 6
D3/2, 6
D5/2, 8
S1/2, 4
F5/2, or 4
F7/2. Atoms were excited to either the 6
P1/2 or 6
P3/2 state using a single-mode Ti:sapphire laser. The excited-atom density and spatial distribution were mapped by monitoring the absorption of a counterpropagating single-mode ring dye laser beam, tuned to either the 6
P1/2\ensuremath{\rightarrow}8
S1/2 or 6
P3/2\ensuremath{\rightarrow}7
D3/2,5/2 transitions, which could be translated parallel to the pump beam. Transmission factors, which describe the average probability that photons emitted within the fluorescence detection region can pass through the optically thick vapor without being absorbed, were calculated for all relevant transitions. Effective lifetimes of levels populated by energy-pooling collisions are modified by radiation trapping, and these factors were calculated using the Molisch theory. These calculated quantities have been combined with the measured excited-atom densities and fluorescence ratios to yield absolute energy-pooling rate coefficients. It was found that the rate for production, in all cases, is greatest for 6D, but that 1/2-1/2 collisions are significantly more efficient than 3/2-3/2 collisions for populating 7P. It was also found that 7
P1/2 is populated two to three times more efficiently than 7
P3/2 in 1/2-1/2 collisions, but that the 7P fine-structure levels are approximately equally populated in 3/2-3/2 collisions. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Time-resolved measurements of fluorescence and level populations have been made on barium vapour illuminated by an intense pulse of laser radiation (1 MW cm -2 , 50 ns FWHM) tuned to the resonance transition of Ba I, 6s 2 1 S 0 -6s6p 1 P 1 , at 5535 AA. Barium number densities between 10 13 -10 15 cm -3 were investigated, using a buffer gas of helium at 100 Torr. Fluorescence was measured with two different geometrical arrangements, one allowing partial spatial resolution. In neither case did the observed fluorescence saturate with increasing laser power, although the maximum flux was more than sufficient to burn through the vapour column, as confirmed by transmission measurements. The power loss from the laser beam was found to be compatible with the scattered radiation from the pumped column in the absence of radiation trapping. In contrast to other similar experiments, no significant ionisation was detected (<5%). Time-resolved population measurements by anomalous dispersion on the 6s6p 3 P 2 and 6s5d 1 D 2 metastable levels yielded quenching cross sections for both Ba-Ba and Ba-He collisions, but gave anomalous result for the peak populations. A qualitative explanation of the fluorescence anomaly is proposed on the basis of the AC Stark effect, and it is shown that the same effect can inhibit the onset of stimulated emission to the metastable D levels.
We present a time resolved study of excitation transfer processes between the low lying excited states of barium (6s6p
3PJ, 6s5d
1D2, 6s5d
3DJ) induced by collisions with noble gases. The transient excited state populations have been measured by means of fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy. Cross sections for spin-changing collisions from
3P1 to
1D2 and from
1D2 to
3D3 as well as for fine-structure mixing within the
3D multiplet were obtained by fitting the numerical solution of a seven-state system of rate equations including diffusion to the experimental data. We compare our results to experimental findings for other alkaline earth metals and report an improved value of the lifetime of the 6s6p
3P1 state of barium.
Energy pooling (EP) has been observed in Sr vapor following pulsed optical excitation to the 5
3P1 state. From the time-dependent radiative decay of 6
3S1 and of
61S0 via the cascade resonance line, the EP rate coefficients have been investigated for the following: Sr(5
3PJ)+Sr(5
3PJ′)
(51S0) +Sr(6
3S1 or
61S0). The values of
k11 have been measured, as well as
kJJ′ averaged over a thermal distribution of 5
3PJ populations. The time-dependent Sr(
53PJ) densities were measured by absorption of lines from a Sr lamp crossing the excitation region. The rate coefficients are surprisingly large; in spite of the small statistical weights of these product states, they are nearly gas-kinetic. The dependence of the rates upon spin, J, and energy defect \ensuremath{\Delta}E has also been examined.
We describe a set of experiments that investigate excitation transfer among the barium 6s5d
3DJ metastable levels due to collisions with argon perturber atoms, and quenching of atoms in these levels by nitrogen perturber molecules. The metastable levels were populated through optical pumping of the 6
s2 1S0\ensuremath{\rightarrow}6s6p
3P1o intercombination transition with a pulsed laser, followed by stimulated emission or stimulated Raman scattering into the 6s5d
3D1,2 levels. Collisional mixing then distributed population throughout the
3DJ levels. Time-dependent absorption coefficients were obtained by measuring the transmission of a weak cw probe laser beam (after the pulsed laser fired) at several perturber number densities. Argon buffer gas was used to investigate fine-structure mixing, and nitrogen was used to study quenching. The time-dependent absorption coefficients were fitted to appropriate fitting functions, obtained by solving the set of coupled rate equations used to model the time evolution of the metastable level populations. The buildup rates of the initially unpopulated
3D3 and underpopulated
3D1 levels were used to determine the collisional mixing rates, while the measured decay rates of the
3DJ level populations yielded the quenching rates. From plots of buildup rates versus argon number density for the
3D1,3 states, we were able to determine four of the six fine-structure mixing rate coefficients
kij.The results are
k12=(1.71\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.18),
k21=(1.39\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.13),
k23=(1.42\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.13), and
k32=(1.92\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.16)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}13}$
cm3 ${\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$. The experiment is not sensitive to the values of
k13 and
k31. Estimated rate coefficients for excitation transfer among the
3DJ levels due to collisions with barium atoms are
k21Ba=1.3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}10}$
cm3 ${\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ and
k23Ba=5.8\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}10}$
cm3 ${\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$. A plot of the population decay rates versus
N2 number density for each of the three metastable levels yielded the average nitrogen quenching rate coefficient
kq=(3.14\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.19)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}11}$
cm3 ${\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$.