Atomic population redistribution in a dense Ga vapour proceeding via energy pooling ionization induced by resonant laser-assisted collisions

In this paper we report on the atomic population redistribution originating from the ionization that takes place in a dense Ga vapour kept in quartz cells and resonantly excited by laser radiation, in the collisions between two excited atoms. This ionization process is known as energy-pooling ionization (EPI). The electron/ion recombination that takes place in the low density plasma produced gives rise to population in the atomic Rydberg levels and from the latter via cascade transitions to lower lying ones. We have monitored the fluorescences relative to the radiative emissions from such levels, namely those corresponding to the nP → 5S_1/2 series, with 9 ≤ n ≤ 26, and the 4D → 4P_1/2,3/2 transitions. Their characteristics testify to their origin as being due to the EPI process. Further confirmation is obtained by performing a time-resolved analysis of such fluorescences, whose appearance and time evolution is strongly influenced by the dynamics of the process. The effect of the introduction of a few Torr of buffer gas inside the quartz cell, resulting in the quenching of all the fluorescences for n ≥ 12, is also discussed.