Laser Polarization Transients to Study Nonclassical Features of Magnetic Quantum-State Scattering inYb174

We present experiments which study velocity-changing collisions for ${}_{}{}^{174}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Yb}$ ${}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}P_1^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ atomic multipoles. New laser polarization-rotation-transient techniques are used to select anisotropic moments for which the velocity-changing collision kernel is diagonal. The results are compared to those obtained for the collisional evolution of the state populations, and demonstrate that wave mechanical effects play an important role in anisotropic-moment scattering.