Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Simulating The Doppler-Free Fluorescence Spectrum For The Potassium D1 Transitions, Paul G. Johnson, Marc R. Hammond, Vincent B. Wickwar

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Radiation theory (absorption, spontaneous emission, and stimulated emission) is applied to Potassium (39K and 41K) to examine details of the D1 lines, Figure 1, in the near IR at 770 nm. When examining the resonance fluorescence from two counter-propagation laser beams in a K cell, Figure 2, three prominent “Doppler-free” features—dips at the D1a and D1b resonances and spikes at their crossover frequencies—stand out superposed on the fluorescence background. They are examined with a detailed simulation, Figures 3 and 4, and compared to observations, Figure 5. Parametric studies of the Doppler-free features, Figures 6–8, indicate how to maximize their prominence, …

Prediction Of Saturation Effects On Potassium Lidar Returns, Joel R. Drake, Vincent B. Wickwar

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The Atmospheric Lidar Observatory, on the Utah State University campus, will add a potassium lidar to its existing Rayleigh scatter system in the near future. The current system accurately measures temperatures from 40 km to 85 km in altitude.

Beginning at 80 km, a potassium layer forms due to the disintegration of meteors as they enter earth’s atmosphere. ALO plans to probe this layer using an alexandrite laser scanning a wavelength region near 770 nm, where potassium absorbs light. When the light is re-emitted, it can be measured in the same manner as scattered light in a Rayleigh lidar.

Usually, …