Homogeneous saturation of the 6328 Å neon laser transition due to collisions in the weak collision model

Abstract

Measurement of the collision broadened lineshapes of the 6328 Å Ne laser transition in absorbing 20Ne and amplifying 7 : 1 3He : 20Ne discharges indicate that the transition saturates with a Doppler component as well as the Lorentzian holes expected of a Doppler broadened line. The homogeneous saturation, caused by elastic velocity-changing collisions, is much stronger in 20Ne than in 7 : 1 3He : 20Ne. The results are in good agreement with a rate equation formulation in which the effect of velocity-changing collisions giving rise to cross-relaxation is introduced through the Fokker-Planck probability function.