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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Disalignment measurement of neon 2p2atoms due to neon atom collisions in a glow discharge plasma at 77 and 300 K under a strong magnetic field

T Imagawa, T Yoshida, T. Shikama, Masahiro Hasuo

Published Feb 23, 2009• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In a temperature-controlled neon discharge cell under a magnetic field up to 7 T, a linearly polarized laser pulse has produced polarized neon atoms (atomic alignment) on the 2p 2 (in the Paschen notation) level from the 1s 3 level. The subsequent fluorescence to the 1s 2 level was observed with its polarized components being resolved. The disalignment rate coefficients of the 2p 2 atom due to neon atom collisions were determined at the temperature of 77 and 300 K. At each temperature, the rate coefficient shows no dependence on the magnetic field within the experimental accuracy.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/42/5/055202

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Summary form only given, as follows. We investigated the hidden alignment of Ne plasma in a magnetic field observing the optical characteristics of the medium-absorption and refraction. A tunable single frequency laser beam was used as a probe beam. Depending on the direction of the applied magnetic field and the geometry of observation, the dependence of the plasma birefringence or dichroism on the magnetic field was registered. The dye laser was tuned to /spl lambda/=607.4 nm (2p/sub 3/-1s/sub 4/ Ne transition). The dependence on the external magnetic field of the laser beam intensity passed through the Ne discharge cell was registered, for various laser frequencies in the limits of the absorption line. At the edge of the absorption line, the signal of the dichroism consists of two Lorentzian components while at the center of the absorption line the wide component is absent. The wide component width depends on neon pressure as: H(P)=(1.64/spl plusmn/0.03) gauss + P(torr) (0.33/spl plusmn/0.08) gauss/torr. This value is in a good agreement with other results concerning the lifetime of the 1s/sub 4/ state. The mechanism of alignment formation in this state is not clear. This state could not be aligned by light absorption following a quantitative calculation. The irradiation of atoms is isotropic within the limits of all the absorption line because of the high magnitude of absorption for the 1s/sub 4/-1s/sub 0/ transition. We consider the optical pumping as the most probable mechanism for alignment of this state. The magnitude of absorption on the s-p neon transitions are not high. The intensity of the spontaneous emission beam along the tube is greater than in the perpendicular direction. If the quantization axis coincides with the tube axis, this beam empties the magnetic sublevels with M=/spl plusmn/1, thus creating longitudinal alignment. The absence of a signal at the center of the absorption line can be explained by the high selfabsorption on the s-p transitions. The width of the narrow component of the signal is approximately 0.7 gauss. Its pressure dependence is small. We have established experimentally the absence of signals of such width in the spontaneous emission from 2p levels. Hence, all optical mechanisms of alignment transmission from higher or from lower states to the 1s/sub 4/ state are excluded. Apparently this signal arises from alignment of metastable state 1s/sub 5/. In our opinion the collisions are the most probable mechanism of alignment transmission.

Trans Black Sea Region Symposium on Applied Electromagnetism•Nov 11, 2002•0 citations
In a temperature-controlled neon discharge cell under a magnetic field up to 7 T, a linearly polarized laser pulse has produced polarized neon atoms (atomic alignment) on the 2p 2 (in the Paschen notation) level from the 1s 3 level. The subsequent fluorescence to the 1s 2 level was observed with its polarized components being resolved. The disalignment rate coefficients of the 2p 2 atom due to neon atom collisions were determined at the temperature of 77 and 300 K. At each temperature, the rate coefficient shows no dependence on the magnetic field within the experimental accuracy.
In a positive column of a glow discharge, a linearly polarized laser pulse produces aligned neon atoms in the 2p 2 (Paschen notation) level, and the subsequent fluorescence is observed with its polarized components resolved. The relaxation rate of the alignment, or the disalignment rate, is thus determined. The populations of the 1s 2 – 1s 5 levels are found to be strongly dependent on the discharge current, and so are the degrees of radiation re-absorption of the transition lines from 2p 2 to these levels. A Monte Carlo simulation is performed by which the disalignment rate by radiation re-absorption for these transitions is determined, where the isotope splitting of the transition lines is taken into account. This rate is subtracted from the observed disalignment rate, resulting in the rate being independent of the degree of radiation re-absorption. Thus, disalignment due to atom collisions and that due to radiation re-absorption are separated. For the latter disalignment the disalignment rate deduced by the simulation, treating the four transitions simultaneously, is found to be virtually equal to the sum of the disalignment rates for each of the transitions. The approximate expression for the disalignment rate given by D’Yakonov and Perel’ (1965 Sov. Phys.–JETP 20 997) is quantified, so that it can be applied to estimating the disalignment rate of an upper level having several transition lines with finite optical thickness.
We have measured the relaxation rate of alignment of neon atoms in a 2p2 (in Paschen notation) level, which were excited by a linearly polarized laser pulse in a glow discharge plasma at 77 K, in a magnetic field of up to 3 T in the Voigt configuration. The relaxation rate decreased with an increase in the magnetic field strength of up to 0.5 T and showed no magnetic field dependence above 0.5 T. We developed a Monte Carlo simulation method to calculate alignment relaxation, or disalignment, by radiation re-absorption of atomic resonance lines in a magnetic field. The simulated result was found to be consistent with the observed magnetic field dependence. We analysed the results of the simulation from a point of competition between the Zeeman splitting and the Doppler broadening of the transition lines from the 2p2 level.
Investigates the levels of the 2p 5 3p configuration of neon by studying the polarization of the light emitted by a dc neon discharge. The pressure broadening of the Hanle signals was studied and cross sections were obtained for the destruction of alignment for collisions with both helium and neon ground state atoms. The measurements have been made at 315 K and 85 K. The cross sections for the 2p 2 and 2p 6 levels (Paschen notation) change considerably with temperature, while the cross sections for other levels are almost independent of temperature.
The fluorescent light from two atomic levels is studied assuming that the atoms are subjected to a gas discharge, to a static magnetic field, and, simultaneously, to a laser beam having the transition frequency between the atomic levels. Calculations are developed in the formalism of irreducible tensor operators. One takes into account the existence of isotropic relaxations and cascade effects due to spontaneous emission between the upper and the lower levels. Following Lamb, the laser beam is described classically by its electric field, and its effects are calculated by perturbation theory. It is predicted that the σ component of fluorescent light exhibits the Hanle effect, which allows one to measure the relaxation rates\Gamma(0)and\Gamma(2)of the population and of the alignment of the emitting level, respectively. Experimental agreement with the theoretical analysis has been found for the3s_{2}, 2s_{2}, and2P_{4}levels of Ne. Among the experimental results obtained by this method are the natural widths and the collision cross sections for population (quenching collision) and for alignment. Several transition probabilities are also derived. Furthermore, the theory of coherent imprisonment of the fluorescent line has been found valid even if laser pumping light is used.
The interaction of an intense optical-maser field with excited atoms in a gas discharge leads to a considerable change in the population of those levels which are resonant at the maser frequency. This will cause a change in the population of other levels that are connected to the maser levels through collision-induced nonradiative as well as radiative transitions. Using the 1.15-\ensuremath{\mu} optical maser, these effects have been studied in detail for the 2s2s2s levels of neon where the changes are completely due to collisions. By analyzing the intensity changes in spontaneous emission originating from a gas-discharge cell placed within the maser resonator, we have observed the approach to a partial thermalization of two closely spaced levels. In this way we have been able to obtain the atomic-collision cross section for excitation transfer between the 2s22{s}_{2}2s2​ and 2s32{s}_{3}2s3​ levels. In pure neon this has been found to be ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{23}=(2.3\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.3)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}16}$ cm2{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}cm2. For a helium-neon mixture the measured cross section is ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{23}=(1.8\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.3)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}16}$ cm2{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}cm2. The experimental method used to determine these cross sections eliminates the uncertainties caused by the effects of electron-atom collisions and radiative cascade. These techniques also yield the ratio of the Einstein coefficients for the transitions $2{s}_{2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}2{p}_{10}$ and $2{s}_{3}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}2{p}_{10}$. The measured ratio is $\frac{{A}_{2}}{{A}_{3}}=3.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.4$.
Summary form only given, as follows. We investigated the hidden alignment of Ne plasma in a magnetic field observing the optical characteristics of the medium-absorption and refraction. A tunable single frequency laser beam was used as a probe beam. Depending on the direction of the applied magnetic field and the geometry of observation, the dependence of the plasma birefringence or dichroism on the magnetic field was registered. The dye laser was tuned to /spl lambda/=607.4 nm (2p/sub 3/-1s/sub 4/ Ne transition). The dependence on the external magnetic field of the laser beam intensity passed through the Ne discharge cell was registered, for various laser frequencies in the limits of the absorption line. At the edge of the absorption line, the signal of the dichroism consists of two Lorentzian components while at the center of the absorption line the wide component is absent. The wide component width depends on neon pressure as: H(P)=(1.64/spl plusmn/0.03) gauss + P(torr) (0.33/spl plusmn/0.08) gauss/torr. This value is in a good agreement with other results concerning the lifetime of the 1s/sub 4/ state. The mechanism of alignment formation in this state is not clear. This state could not be aligned by light absorption following a quantitative calculation. The irradiation of atoms is isotropic within the limits of all the absorption line because of the high magnitude of absorption for the 1s/sub 4/-1s/sub 0/ transition. We consider the optical pumping as the most probable mechanism for alignment of this state. The magnitude of absorption on the s-p neon transitions are not high. The intensity of the spontaneous emission beam along the tube is greater than in the perpendicular direction. If the quantization axis coincides with the tube axis, this beam empties the magnetic sublevels with M=/spl plusmn/1, thus creating longitudinal alignment. The absence of a signal at the center of the absorption line can be explained by the high selfabsorption on the s-p transitions. The width of the narrow component of the signal is approximately 0.7 gauss. Its pressure dependence is small. We have established experimentally the absence of signals of such width in the spontaneous emission from 2p levels. Hence, all optical mechanisms of alignment transmission from higher or from lower states to the 1s/sub 4/ state are excluded. Apparently this signal arises from alignment of metastable state 1s/sub 5/. In our opinion the collisions are the most probable mechanism of alignment transmission.