Abstract

We describe a new Stark sublevel photon echo technique for measuring fluctuations in macroscopic coherences. This idea is applied to the Stark tunable infrared (λ = 9 μm) R(4, 3, V₃ = 0 → 1) transition of ¹³CH₃F to measure, for the first time, the radiator reorientation velocity changing kernels W_ΔM(Δv) which describe the rates (per unit velocity) at which the radiator orientation M changes by an amount ΔM accompanied by a velocity change Δv.¹ In the experiments, two pulse photon echoes are obtained using a laser field polarized along an applied weak de Stark field ($\widehat{z}$ direction) which shifts each M transition by Mv_s (H_z).

© 1986 Optical Society of America