Canadian Journal of Physics
Theory of resonant light scattering from two level atoms in the presence of collisions
Haider R. Zaidi
Abstract
A theory of resonant light scattering from two level atoms in a gas is developed for an arbitrarily strong pump field. The Doppler effect and two body foreign gas collisions are considered. Elastic, inelastic (upward and downward), and the velocity changing collisions are retained in the general formulation. The impact approximation is not made, and the expressions for all (field dependent) collision rates are generated internally. Particular attention is paid to the lower state interaction, and a more complete parameterization of the theory is achieved. The general theory is non-Markovian and the quantum regression theorem is not used; it reduces to existing theories in special cases. It is shown that the coherent scattering is not a general property of the system if the lower state interaction is present; the "coherent" component acquires a small, but nonzero, width in the strong field region. This width could provide information about some new collision parameters.