Laser and ionization excitation transfer by superelastic collisions in atomic vapors

High resolution studies of the spectral profile of cross sections and the coherence effects in the presence of an external polarized field are presented for alkaline and alkaline earth mixtures. When the laser induced collision leads to ionization, the process is often hidden by efficient ionization through superelastic collisions. The study of this phenomena, achieved in a strontium vapor, clears up the dynamics of the transfer of the energy, conveyed by the hot electrons from the storage metastable levels to the ion ground level.