Measurement of Molecular-Alignment Relaxation Rate in NH3Using Non-Lorentzian Laser-Induced Saturation Resonances

Abstract

A general technique is presented in which narrow non-Lorentzian laser-induced resonances are used to study molecular reorientation. The experiments, which study the ${\nu }_{2}asQ(8, 7)$ N${\mathrm{H}}_3$ transition, yield a value of 6 ± 1 MHz/Torr for the excited-state alignment relaxation rate, 50% larger than the corresponding population relaxation rate.