Laser Physics Letters
Polarization of collision induced photon echo in ytterbium vapour
Н. Н. Рубцова, В. Н. Ищенко, Хворостов Евгений Борисович, Sergei A. Kochubei, Igor V. Yevseyev
Abstract
Collision induced photon echo generated at the inter-combination transition (6s6p) 3P1 ↔ (6s2) 1S0 of 174Yb in the mixture Yb+Xe is investigated. Collision echo is generated by two unidirectional pulses of resonant radiation with linear and mutually orthogonal polarizations. The collision induced echo appears exclusively due to Yb collisions with buffer, and its polarization coincides with polarization of the first exciting pulse. Experimental results are in qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions for anisotropic depolarizing collisions.