Nonlinear resonant photoionization in molecular iodine

Paul F. Williams, Denis L. Rousseau, S. H. Dworetsky

We report a significantly shortened scattering lifetime in molecular iodine when the frequency of a single-mode 5145-\AA{}A incident laser is tuned away from resonance with a discrete transition. This observation of a shortened scattering time is indicative of what has been conventionally called a Raman process. Off-resonance lifetime measurements, as reported here, may provide a means of determining the relative contribution to the absorption linewidth of homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadening.

J. B. West

Naresh Chandra, R. Ghosh

V. I. Romanenko, Yelena G. Udovitskaya, Ruslan A. Malitskiy +1 more

The interaction of circularly polarized weak probe wave with the molecular iodine driven by the strong pump wave with the opposite polarization has been theoretically studied. It is shown that the phenomenon of electromagnetically induced transparency in the iodine vapour can be observed for moderate intensity (~10-100 W/cm2) of the pump wave. The group velocity of the probe wave can decrease to 0.1c.

Andrey V. Mironov

The observation of “spatial-modulation” resonances of saturated absorption in the interaction of iodine-127 vapors with a superposition of frequency-nondegenerate TEM 01 and TEM 10 transverse modes of a linear laser is reported. The modulation of the total radiation power of the probing wave, recorded at twice the beating frequency of transverse modes of the laser, is interpreted to be the result of the transformation of modulation of the spatial distribution of the field into its amplitude modulation under the action of nonlinearly absorbing iodine vapors. Resonances of saturated absorption of the weak line R (127)11-5 of iodine-127 (633 nm) in an extracavity cell are observed by the method proposed.

Naresh Chandra, R. Ghosh