Soviet Journal of Quantum Electronics
Collisional-radiative cooling and heating of a gas
Faris Gel’mukhanov, А. И. Пархоменко, В. Е. Прокопьев, Anatolii M. Shalagin
Abstract
An analysis is made of a new effect resulting in cooling or heating of a resonant gas in a radiation field. The effect is due to collisions of resonant atoms with particles of a buffer gas. The magnitude of the effect depends on the ratio of the transport cross sections of the excited and ground states. Qualitative estimates of the degree of cooling or heating are obtained.