Abstract

In this work we report on investigations of novel features of radiation transport in alkaline vapors and their significance for nonlinear optics. We performed experiments with sodium vapor irradiated by a cw dye laser in which multiple scattering of resonance radiation leads to strong transverse resonant radiation flow. In the presence of collisions with buffer gas atoms radiation trapping occurs even with off-resonant tight.^[1] Its consequence is not only a prolongation of the effective population lifetime, we find that the transverse distribution of excited atoms differs from that one without light diffusion. Hence, we can conclude that light diffusion has a strong influence on typical effects of nonlinear optics like self-focussing and defocussing.

© 1992 IQEC