Abstract

The term electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) [1] denotes the modification of the absorption and dispersion properties of an atomic transition when the upper level - usually decaying by autoionization - is coherently coupled to a third level by a relatively intense laser field. It results from the combination of Autler-Townes splitting and quantum interferences of dressed states which decay into the same continuum. The aim of the present paper is to show how EIT can modify the dynamics of coherent ionization processes induced by laser radiation and atomic collisions.

© 1996 IEEE