Disorientation of 42P1/2 potassium atoms, induced in resonant collisions

Abstract

A (modified) Zeeman scanning method was used to determine the cross sections for disorientation of potassium atoms in the 42P1/2 resonance substate, induced in collisions with the ground-state atoms. Potassium vapor at densities of the order of 1011 cm−3 placed in a variable magnetic field was irradiated with σ+ polarized resonance radiation of wavelength 7699 Å emitted from a discharge lamp located in a constant field of 5.4 kG. The σ+ and σ− components of the resonance fluorescence emitted at right angles to the direction of excitation were monitored in relation to the vapor density as the variable field was scanned to make the σ+ resonance transition in the absorbing vapor coincide with the σ+ component present in the exciting light. As the vapor density increased, so did the admixture of the σ− component in the fluorescent light, which arises from collisional mixing between the mJ = 1/2 and mJ = −1/2 Zeeman substates. The resulting depolarization curve yielded the disorientation cross section σ1 = 4.0 × 10−11 cm2.