Observation of laser-induced inelastic collisions

Abstract

We describe two new experiments which demonstrate laser-induced inelastic collisions. Energy was stored in the Sr $5p{}_{}{}^1{}_{}{}^{}P_{}^o{}_{}{}^{}$ state and selectively transferred both to the Ca $4p^2{}_{}{}^1{}_{}{}^{}S$ and $5d{}_{}{}^1{}_{}{}^{}D$ states. The collision cross sections maximized at the interatomic wavelengths of 4977 and 4711 Å, respectively, and had a half-power width of about 14 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{-1\mathrm{}}$.