We consider a gas of molecules absorbing light from a monochromatic laser source and also undergoing both phase randomizing and thermalizing collisions with a heat bath of inert molecules. The generalized master equation formalism, used previously to study a system of this type with a two-level absorber, is extended to an absorber with N equally spaced levels. The possibility of unimolecular decay from any or all of the N levels is included in the formalism. The well-known relaxation model of Rubin and Shuler and the chemical reaction model of Montroll and Shuler are built into the formalism as special cases when the light source is turned off. Specific calculations for an eight-level model are presented and compared with results expected for an incoherent light source. A coherent effect which increases the upper level populations at steady state is found to exist. A corresponding increase in the macroscopic chemical rate constant is calculated for the coherent model when unimolecular decay from the top level is included. A particularly simple and general result is found for the power absorbed by a harmonic oscillator. It is also shown that, for the N-level model, one does not necessarily find equal populations in the limit of infinite light field intensity.
A study is reported of the influence of a phase memory in the presence of collisions on the work done by a field and on a light-induced drift of two-level gas particles in the Lorentz model of a gas (heavy buffer particles). It is shown that a phase memory may result in amplification of the incident radiation by particles at certain velocities in the absence of a population inversion (when practically all the particles are in the ground state). A phase memory is shown to have a strong influence on the light-induced drift if the collision frequency is much higher than the Doppler width of an absorption line: the drift calculated ignoring the influence of a phase memory may be strongly underestimated.
We present a formalism to analyze the effects of collisions and intramolecular energy transfer and dephasing processes (
T1 and
T2 relaxation) on level-population dynamics and unimolecular decay of laser-driven gas molecules. Utilizing a Boltzmann or optical Bloch equation for the density matrix to describe laser excitation of a relaxing multilevel absorber, we develop a generalized master equation (GME) to describe the dynamics of level population evolution for multilevel absorbers having arbitrary numbers of quantum levels
N. Because the resulting level-population equations explicitly retain phase memory, the effect of complete or partial phase-coherent driving or incoherent driving by the laser field are all included within the GME solutions. The formalism provides straightforward means to calculate time-dependent solutions for arbitrary
N, where a single expression is valid on transient, post transient, approach to steady state, and steady-state time scales. We illustrate the behavior of these solutions for the special case of three- and eight-level systems, but the method is not restricted with regard to number of levels. In both this and the following paper, we use specific examples and general arguments to show that an ordinary master equation (OME) is invalid even under apparently favorable conditions including saturating field strengths. We demonstrate that, for an
N-level absorber with given coupling elements, there are
2N [or
2(N+1)] independent saturation solutions and that special conditions on the relaxation times are required to produce the ordinary equal-population solution. Explicit forms for the steady-state radiative-transition matrix $W(\ensuremath{\lambda}=0)$ are derived for arbitrary
N, and general arguments are given to show that the correct description of the dynamics given by the GME results from matrix singularities in $W(\ensuremath{\lambda}=0)$ which can never occur in an OME or similar rate equations.
Using the exact solution for a sine-driven two-level system we have calculated the nonlinear absorption coefficient of a gas of two-level molecules with homogeneous (hard collisions, spontaneous decay) and inhomogeneous (Doppler effect) broadening mechanisms. We have studied the dependence of the form of the absorption lines on relaxation parameters, on the strength of the electric field, and for various ratios between the homogeneous and inhomogeneous linewidths. We include considerations about saturation of the medium caused by the external field that gives rise to the so-called power broadening of the spectral lines. The dependence of the linewidth on the saturation parameters and on the relaxation parameters is determined. These parameters appear in the ratio of the purely homogeneous and purely inhomogeneous linewidths. Asymptotic behaviors of this linewidth for the homogeneous limit and for the inhomogeneous limit are also determined.
An exact expression of the gain constant of two-level molecules (or atoms) in a standing-wave optical field is obtained for a special case where the optical frequency is in exact resonance with the molecular transition and the longitudinal and transverse relaxations have equal decay constants. Secondly, an exact form of gain constant as a function of frequency detuning which decribes the shape of Lamb dip or saturated absorption is shown for another case where the transverse relaxation is much faster than the longitudinal relaxation. A flat velocity distribution of molecules at Doppler limit is assumed in either case.
A theory of saturation spectroscopy in three-level gas-vapor systems, including collisional effects, is presented. Using a model of collisions in which they are phase interrupting in their effect on level coherences and velocity changing in their effect on level population densities, the authors calculate the absorption profile of a weak probe field on a given transition when an arbitrarily strong pump field acts on a coupled transition. Line shapes are derived for an arbitrary collision kernel describing the velocity-changing collisions, and these line shapes are evaluated for the collision kernel proposed by Keilson and Storer. Various limiting forms for the line shapes are derived and representative line shapes are displayed. Several new features of the line shapes, including collisionally induced increased probe absorption are discussed. The line shapes are seen to reflect the various collisional processes that may occur in atomic or molecular systems.