Laser Physics Letters
Collision induced photon echo in ytterbium vapour
Н. Н. Рубцова, Хворостов Евгений Борисович, Sergei A. Kochubei, В. Н. Ищенко, Igor V. Yevseyev
Abstract
Collision induced photon echo is observed in ytterbium vapour at the inter-combination transition (6s6p) 3P1 ↔ (6s2) 1S0 in the presence of Kr gas as buffer. Collision echo is generated by two unidirectional resonant dye laser pulses of linear mutually orthogonal polarizations. There is practically no echo in the absence of buffer. Photon echo power increases with Kr pressure in the range from 0 to 20 mTorr and decreases at higher Kr pressures. Experimental results are compared with theoretical predictions accounting for relaxation matrix dependence on the direction of the velocity of active atoms.