Abstract
We report the study of imaginary collision kernels for optical radiators by measuring the time-dependent phase of the macroscopic polarization in a two-level atomic vapor. An important feature of the work is that velocity space Ramsey fringes are used to provide a simple means for measuring the collision-induced optical phase. The kernel (i.e., the imaginary part of the collision-induced velocity change distribution) is related by Fourier transformation to the time-dependent phase measured in the experiments. The width of the imaginary kernel is found to be much larger than the real part, indicating that classical velocity changes make an important contribution to the imaginary kernel. This is in marked contrast to the real kernel, which is dominated by diffractive velocity changes.
© 1989 Optical Society of America
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