Abstract
We have observed the effect of angled excitation beams on the photon echoes from the 22S1/2–22P1/2 transition of atomic lithium. The degradation of the echo from noncollinear excitations is not so great as had been feared. A calculation with the billiard-ball echo model is in good agreement with our experimental results. In a similar experiment in atomic-sodium vapor we have recorded a decay of echo intensity with increasing pulse separation over nearly 12 orders of magnitude, with the weakest signals coming from atoms that had been more than 23 lifetimes in their excited state.
© 1984 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
T. J. Chen, D. DeBeer, and S. R. Hartmann
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 3(4) 493-496 (1986)
E. A. Rotberg, B. Barrett, S. Beattie, S. Chudasama, M. Weel, I. Chan, and A. Kumarakrishnan
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 24(3) 671-680 (2007)
A. Szabo
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 3(4) 514-522 (1986)