Abstract

This paper describes the measurement of state specific relaxation rates using resonant nearly degenerate four-wave mixing (NDFWM). In earlier work,¹ we demonstrated that state specific velocity changing collisions resulted in a collisional narrowing of the optical resonance in NDFWM. We showed that the width of the resonance was due to the ground-state relaxation rate. Physically, the narrowing was the result of the closed atomic system evolving into an open system as a result of the different collision trajectories associated with the excited state and the ground state.

© 1986 Optical Society of America