The fluorescence spectrum of cesium vapor was studied in a cell irradiated with the light of 852.3 nm resonance line from a single mode laser diode. From the intensities and spectra of the Cs and Cs2 fluorescence we identified several collisional and radiative processes in the excited cesium atom-dimer system. The atomic lines of the highly excited states were the result of collisional energy transfer from Cs(6P 3/2) + Cs(6P 3/2) to Cs(6D, 8S) atoms. The Cs2 (B 1 IIu) band formed in Cs (6P) + Cs2 (X1sigmag+) collisions. The fine-structure mixing in 6 2P atoms was studied through excitation transfer, energy-pooling collision, and collisional excitation transfer between Cs2 and Cs. The authors estimated the value of rate coefficient for the collisional energy transfer from 6P3/2 to 6P1/2 to be (5.2+/-2.1) x 10(-11) cm3 x s(-1). For the excitation transfer process Cs2 (B 1 IIu)+ Cs(6S)--> Cs2 (X 1sigmag+) + Cs(6P1/2 ), a rate coefficient of (1.0+/-0.4) x 10(-9) cm3 x s(-1) was yielded.
Excitation transfer between the
62P21 and
62P23 resonance states in cesium, induced by Cs-
N2 and Cs-
H2 collisions, was observed in the first experiment of its kind, in which techniques of sensitized fluorescence are used to investigate collisional mixing between resonance states of alkali atoms in mixtures with molecular gases. The cesium-vapor-gas system, in which the cesium vapor pressure was low enough to avoid radiation trapping, was irradiated with a single component of the resonance doublet. The fluorescent light, which contained both components of the doublet, was monitored at right angles to the direction of excitation. Measurements of relative intensities of the fluorescent components yielded the following cross sections for excitation transfer and for quenching of resonance radiation. For Cs-
N2 collisions: ${Q}_{12}(^{2}P_{\frac{1}{2}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}^{2}P_{\frac{3}{2}})=3.6$
A˚2, ${Q}_{21}(^{2}P_{\frac{1}{2}}\ensuremath{\leftarrow}^{2}P_{\frac{3}{2}})=16.2$
A˚2, ${Q}_{10}(^{2}S_{\frac{1}{2}}\ensuremath{\leftarrow}^{2}P_{\frac{1}{2}})=55.2$
A˚2, ${Q}_{20}(^{2}S_{\frac{1}{2}}\ensuremath{\leftarrow}^{2}P_{\frac{3}{2}})=63.5$
A˚2. For Cs-
H2 collisions:
Q12=6.7 A˚2,
Q21=29.6 A˚2,
Q10=11.7 A˚2,
Q20=6.7 A˚2. The large sizes of the excitation-transfer cross sections, which are comparable to the corresponding Cs-Cs cross sections, are attributed to resonances with transitions in the molecules.