Light-induced drift of Na atoms

Abstract

Light can induce a flux of optically absorbing particles immersed in a buffer gas, when these particles have a different mobility in the ground and excited state. This paper presents a study of light-induced drift (LID) of Na atoms in noble gases, which can be regarded as the “canonical” system for experiments in this field. We have experimentally studied the LID effect in the optically thin and the optically thick regimes. Parameters which have been varied are laser frequency, laser intensity, buffer gas pressure and buffer gas species. This work gives the first critical comparison of LID experiments with realistic theory in which the multilevel complications of the Na atom have been incorporated. In the optically thick case (“optical piston”) one can distinguish the open cell and the closed cell regimes. Effects of adsorption and desorption of Na atoms at the surface of the cell wall have been incorporated into the theory. The experimental data are in excellent agreement with the results of a four-level rate-equation model for LID which incorporates the fine and hyperfine structure of the level scheme of the Na absorbers.