Calculations on laser-induced collisional energy transfer.

Abstract

We examine theoretically the behavior of cross sections for laser-induced collisional energy transfer (LICET) over a wide range of detunings and laser intensities for the two-atom pairs Li-Sr and Eu-Sr which have been previously studied experimentally. These two cases are complementary in that the laser and collisional interactions enter in opposite orders, and their level structures are such as to give weak-field line shapes of opposite asymmetry and intensity shift. A three-state model is used and the Bambini-Berman formula for the weak-field quasistatic wing is verified. At high intensities the peak cross section is found to go through a maximum and the LICET profile is found to become symmetric about a shifted center with notable departures from a uniform falloff in the far quasistatic wing, apparently arising from radiative collisional interference effects.