Measurement of the Effective Nonradiative Relaxation Rate near a Metallic Film

Abstract

We have studied the effective nonradiative relaxation rate of the hyperfine level near a metallic film with diode laser-induced retrofluorescence spectroscopy and saturated-absorption spectroscopy technique. The glass-vapor interface is considered as two distinct regions, a wavelength-thickness vapor layer joined to the surface and a more remote vapor region. The total experimental retrofluorescence signal is the summation of the signal originating from the far-field region and the signal originating from the near-field region . Considering the thermalization of atoms in the far-field region, we can approximate by using the vertical fluorescence signal near the entrance window. Thus we get the experimental hyperfine signal profile of in the near-field region. The value of the effective nonradiative transfer rate near the metallic film is relatively large compared to the spontaneous emission rate