Observation of pair absorption and self-broadening in Ba vapor

Abstract

Reduced absorption coefficients γBaBa were measured for the far-wing absorption of the self-broadened Ba6s2 1S0–5d6p 1P1 line, Ba(6s2 1S0) +Ba(6s2 1S0)+ℏω → Ba*(5d6p 1P1)+Ba(6s21 S0)and the pair absorption Ba(6s2 1S0)+Ba(6s2 1 S0) +ℏω→Ba*(6s6p 1P1 +Ba*(6s5d 1D2). The self-broadening shows the red-shaded asymmetric profile: γBaBa on the red wing is proportional to Δν−3/2, where Δν is the detuning from the line center. The pair absorption shows a broad asymmetric peak having a blue tail and a blue satellite. The estimated γBaBa, which is based on the quasistatic line-broadening theory and the long-range dipole–dipole interaction between the relevant atomic excited levels, shows reasonable agreement for the red wing of the self-absorption whereas it gives larger values by a factor of 3 for the blue tail of the main peak for the pair absorption.