Abstract

Several groups^1–4 have recently proposed a simple and powerful optical technique for obtaining ultrahigh time resolution, which is limited only by the coherence time of the excitation light rather than by the overall pulse duration. The present work reports an application of this technique to study the dephasing rates of the Na and Rb resonance lines perturbed by several atmospheres of argon gas. By comparison with traditional measurements, we demonstrate that relaxation processes occurring on time scales much shorter than the excitation pulse duration can indeed be accurately and unambiguously measured using the present technique.

© 1986 Optical Society of America