Lineshapes in coherent two-photon excitation

摘要

We compare lineshapes obtained in laser-induced fluorescence and resonantly enhanced multi-photon ionisation, resulting from coherent pulsed excitation of a two-photon transition in xenon atoms. We find that excitation profiles probed by ionisation show power broadening as expected. Here ionisation occurs simultaneously with the coherent excitation. The profiles observed by fluorescence show almost no broadening, because of coherent population return, since the fluorescence occurs predominantly after the excitation pulse is over. Thus the observed lineshape depends characteristically upon the nature of the probing process. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. [References: 17]