We have studied sodium resonance radiation under conditions of severe radiation trapping in sodium-argon mixtures, and we report measured values of the effective radiative decay rates. The measured values are compared with values calculated from the Holstein theory of radiation trapping in the impact-regime, foreign-gas pressure-broadening limit. The experiment was designed to satisfy all of the validity criteria imposed by the approximations of the Holstein theory, and the experiment and theory are in good agreement. Since the effective radiative decay rate depends upon the collisional line-broadening rate, confirmation of the theory allows such measurements to be used to determine unknown line-broadening constants using only broadband lasers and low resolution monochromaters. We demonstrate this technique for the sodium D lines broadened by xenon and neon perturbers. The values for the broadening constants obtained in this manner are in reasonable agreement with values from several previous studies utilizing more traditional techniques.
We have studied sodium resonance radiation under conditions of severe radiation trapping in sodium-argon mixtures, and we report measured values of the effective radiative decay rates. The measured values are compared with values calculated from the Holstein theory of radiation trapping in the impact-regime, foreign-gas pressure-broadening limit. The experiment was designed to satisfy all of the validity criteria imposed by the approximations of the Holstein theory, and the experiment and theory are in good agreement. Since the effective radiative decay rate depends upon the collisional line-broadening rate, confirmation of the theory allows such measurements to be used to determine unknown line-broadening constants using only broadband lasers and low resolution monochromaters. We demonstrate this technique for the sodium D lines broadened by xenon and neon perturbers. The values for the broadening constants obtained in this manner are in reasonable agreement with values from several previous studies utilizing more traditional techniques.
We have studied trapping of resonance radiation under conditions of moderate to low line-center optical depths in sodium-argon mixtures. We report measured effective radiative decay rates, which are compared with predictions of the Post [Phys. Rev. A 33, 2003 (1986)] and the Milne [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 1, 40 (1926)] theories of radiation trapping. These theories are expected to be valid for spectral lines with low to moderate line-center optical depths, where the commonly used Holstein [Phys. Rev. 72, 1212 (1947); 83, 1159 (1951)] theory of radiation trapping is expected to break down. The experiment was performed under conditions in which the trapping was dominated by either the Doppler-broadened Gaussian or by the impact-broadened Lorentzian line-shape function. The measured effective radiative decay rates agree well with those predicted by the Milne and Post theories over the range of low to moderate optical depth.
We have extended our previous studies of the trapping of alkali-atom resonance radiation to conditions where the unity optical depth points are in the quasistatic wings of the foreign-gas pressure-broadened line shape. Under these conditions, and based on the relatively simple Holstein theory, we expected to see a qualitatively different dependence of the effective radiative decay rate on pressure than is observed when the unity optical depth points are in the impact core. However, we found experimentally that the observed dependence is the same as was observed in the lower pressure limit, at least over the range of conditions we were able to access. On the other hand, these observations are found to be consistent with more accurate calculations based upon the Post theory using a recently available experimental line-shape function.
This study carries out an experimental investigation of the radiative decay kinetics of the resonance states of sodium atoms excited by dye laser radiation. The effective radiative decay rates of the resonance states as a function of vapor temperature, primary and impurity gas presssure, and the radius of the cylindrical volume containing the vapor were obtained by computer processing ofthe experimental curves using a kinetic decay model.-The radiative decay rate calculated in the Holstein approximation is compared to the measured values. The mechanisms of optical excitation of metallic vapors in resonance radiation trapping conditions have been investigated theoretically to a sufficient degree.lr At the same time there have been few experimental studies devoted to this problem. The decay kinetics of the atomic resonance states in the vapors of alkali metals have largely been studied for a planar radiating layer,2-6 where the nonideal geometry of the radiating volume made it necessary to introduce a fitting parameter to compare the experimental results to theory. The radiative decay kinetics of the populations of the resonance 3P states of atomic Na under conditions of axial laser excitation of a cylindrical shell are investigated in the present paper for the first time; this made it possible to carry out a comparison to theory without introducing variable parameters, since in this case exact analytic expressions are known for the effective lifetimes. It should also be emphasized that cylindrically configured cells are most commonly used in experimental research and hence these results have a certain interest in such studies. For our analysis we selected a concentration range of normal sodium atoms of 3 X 1013 <;no<;4 X 1015 cm - where selective optical excitation of the fine structure components (FSC) 32Pl/2 and 32P3/2 are accompanied by collisional mixing, which has a substantial effect on the persistence kinetics of the NaD lines. Under these conditions the decay of the directly excited fine structure component is biexponential, while the time dependence of the population of the corresponding level takes the form
The dencity of sodium was determined from measurement of optical absorption of the resonance line. Sodium vapour, in the dencity 3×10~(11) to 1.2×10~(12)cm~(-3), was excited by a cw dye laser, tuned 70 GHz from D_2 resonance line. We recorded signal intensities, consisting of The Rayleigh component at the laser frequency and the two fluorescence components (direct and sensitized) at the atomic resonance-line frequencies. D_2 line self-broadening rate coefficient [k_(br,2)=5.44×10~(-7)cm~3/s(±15%)] was yielded. Combined with the effective radiative decay rates in the presence of radiation trapping, we measured excitation-transfer rates in different dencities, for the excitation transfer process Na(3P_(3/2))+Na(3S) Na (3P_(1/2))+Na(3S). The fine-structure collisional-mining cross section [σ_(21)(3P_(3/2)→3P_(1/2))=19.9nm~2(±29%)3 at T 184℃ was obtained. Our results were compared to other experiments and to theory.
We have measured the time-dependent fluorescence of the sodium D lines following pulsed excitation of one D line, in the presence of radiation trapping with optical depths k0L of \ensuremath{\sim}10 to 2000. When collisional coupling of the 3P21 and 3P23 levels and different radiative-escape probabilities for each D line are taken into account, we obtain excellent agreement with Holstein's theory for the effective radiative decay rates in the Doppler region (${k}_{0}L\ensuremath{\sim}10\ensuremath{-}300$) and in the redistributed Lorentzian region (k0L>1000). For k0L between these two regions, we observe an abrupt transition between the two limiting formulas. The buildup rate of the sensitized fluorescence signal also yields a $3{P}_{\frac{3}{2}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}3{P}_{\frac{1}{2}}$ excitation transfer cross section in agreement with our previously reported cw measurement. Additionally, we have measured the dependence of the 3P fluorescence on laser power and beam diameter, and we explain the observed approach to saturation. We suggest that the previously reported "anomalous" approaches to saturation may be explained in terms of the laser beam burning through the optically thick vapor. Laser-beam spatial intensity variations and self-focusing also contribute to fluorescence signals that deviate from the usual single-atom saturation behavior.
We have made comprehensive measurements of the noble-gas-induced (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) broadening cross sections of the Na $3S\ensuremath{-}nS$ ($3S\ensuremath{-}nD$) transitions, from n=5to38 (n=4to40). These measurements were made using the trilevel-echo technique and are an extension and refinement of our earlier work. We find that the cross sections increase as the geometric cross section at low values of n, and then, at a value of n which depends on the particular noble gas, begin to decrease and eventually reach an asymptotic value at high n. The broadening cross sections for the nearly degenerate D states are significantly larger than those for the S states and clearly show the effect of l-changing collisions. We also compare our measured S-state broadening cross sections with the cross sections calculated using the theory of Omont and find good qualitative agreement.