Atomic Radiative Processes

В. П. Крайнов, Boris Michailovich Smirnov

Masamoto Takatsuji

Albert Einstein

Claude N. Cohen-Tannoudji

The purpose of these two lectures is to present a brief review of theoretical works done at Ecole Normale Superieure in collaboration with Jean Dalibard, Jacques Dupont-Roc and Claude Fabre. The motivation of these works is to try to understand the dynamics of an atomic system coupled to the radiation field and to get some physical insight in radiative processes in terms of fluctuations of the two interacting systems. By radiative processes, we mean spontaneous emission of radiation by an excited atom and radiative corrections such as the Lamb-shift or g − 2. We will focus here on "spontaneous" effects which are not induced by an incident field, so that the two interacting systems are the atom and the vacuum field.

M. L. Yanson

An investigation was made of the mechanisms of quenching of excited states and of excitation of atomic levels as a result of absorption of laser radiation by alkali metal (Na, K, Cs) vapors. It was found that several processes participated in the excitation of atomic levels: collisional mechanism of excitation energy transfer from molecules to atoms, photodissociation, predissociation, and nonresonant excitation of atomic levels (radiative collisions). The partial contribution of each of these processes (dependent on the vapor density, intensity of laser radiation, and its frequency) should be allowed for in the balance of the filling and deactivation of molecular and atomic states. Qualitative characteristics were obtained for these processes and an analysis was made of their likely role in the emission of radiation from diatomic molecules in alkali metal vapors.

В. П. Крайнов, Boris Michailovich Smirnov