Radiative transport and collisional transfer of excitation energy in Cs vapors mixed with Ar or He

This paper is a review (with a few original additions) on the radiative transport and collisional transfer of energy in laser-excited cesium vapors in the presence of argon or helium. Narrow-band excitation of lines with Lorentz, Doppler and Voigt profiles is studied in order to calculate effective rates for pumping of spectral lines with profiles comprising inhomogeneous broadening components. The radiative transport of excitation energy is considered, and a new, simple and robust, but accurate theoretical method for quantitative treatment of radiation trapping in relatively optically thin media is presented. Furthermore, comprehensive lists of experimental values for the excitation energy transfer cross-sections related to thermal collisions in Cs–Ar and Cs–He mixtures are given. Within the collected cross-section data sets, specific regularities with respect to the energy defect, as well as the temperature, are discerned. A particular emphasis is put on the radiative and collisional processes important for the optimization of resonance–fluorescence imaging atomic filters based on Cs–noble gas systems.