Measurement of V-V transfer rate from HF v = 3 using simultaneous optical pumping on the HF v = 2 → 1 and v = 1 → 0 bands

Abstract

A measurement of the (predominantly) vibration‐vibration (V‐V) decay rate of the v = 3 level in HF gas yields a value of 1.6×10⁶ sec⁻¹ Torr⁻¹. The technique utilized was to optically pump the HF sample with the output of a pulsed HF laser oscillating simultaneously on a line in both the v = 2 → 1 and v = 1 → 0 bands. An analytic description of the time behavior of the v = 1, v = 2, and v = 3 levels using a treatment based on simplified rate equations is described.