Optics Letters
Temperature dependence of Rb 5P fine-structure transfer induced by He4 collisions
M. A. Gearba, J. F. Sell, Brian M. Patterson, R. Lloyd, J. Plyler, R. J. Knize
Abstract
Employing ultrafast laser excitation and time-correlated single-photon counting, we have measured the fine-structure transfer between Rb 5P states induced by collisions with 4He buffer gas at temperatures up to 150 °C. The temperature dependence of the binary cross section agrees with earlier measurements. Our data show that the temperature dependence of the three-body rate is about the same as that of the binary rate. The three-body rate can be described as arising from the reduction of the rubidium fine-structure splitting due to nearby helium atoms.