Study of velocity-changing collisions by time resolved saturated absorption

Abstract
By use of two stabilized CW dye lasers and of electrooptic choppers we have developed an experimental set-up which combines the advantages of high frequency resolution and time resolved spectroscopy. We use this set-up to study the velocity thermalization of 1s3 metastable neon atoms. The collision kernel appears to be constituted of two components. The first one is broad and asymmetric, the second one is narrow and symmetric