Determination of the relaxation constant of the 3s2-3p4transition in neon by investigation of the absorption line wings

Abstract

A tunable Zeeman laser (λ = 3.39 μ) was used to determine the dependences of the relaxation constant of the 3s2–3p4 transition in neon on the pressure in 3He:2ONe = 5:1 mixture and in pure 20Ne. These measurements were made in the wings of the absorption line corresponding to this transition (the tuning range of an He–Ne probe laser was ±3 GHz) using a modulation method for the determination of the absorption coefficient. Within the limits of the experimental error, the dependences obtained were linear and the slopes were 59±6 MHz/Torr for the helium-neon mixture and 32±2MHz/Torr for the pure 20Ne isotope.