Physical Review A
Comment on collision-processes involved in "Two-photon near-resonance light scattering from an atomic level"
G. Grynberg, F. Biraben, M. Kolwas, Bernard Cagnac
Abstract
The experiment of Liran, Levin, Erez, and Jortner is clearly very interesting. Nevertheless, we feel that the numerical values which has been found for the broadening of the sodium $3S\ensuremath{-}4D$ two-photon transition by collisions with argon atoms is wrong. Using Doppler-free two-photon spectroscopy we have measured this cross-section to be 1050\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}110 ${\mathrm{\AA{}}}^{2}$. This value is in good agreement with other experiments and with theoretical predictions. We present several possible interpretations of the value obtained by Liran et al.