Coherence effects in radiatively assisted inelastic collisions: General theory

A radiatively assisted inelastic collision (RAIC) is one in which two atoms collide in the presence of a radiation field to produce a reaction of the form $A^{*}+B+\hslash \Omega \to A+B^{*}$. In this paper, a general theory of RAIC is developed with special attention given to the final-state coherences produced by RAIC. These final-state coherences can be monitored by standard experimental techniques (polarization of fluorescence, quantum beats), enabling one to use such studies to gain information on the interatomic potentials that are relevant to the RAIC under consideration.