Investigation of the collisional broadening of the 2s2–2p4 neon transition line

An investigation was made of the impact and inhomogeneous broadening of a line emitted by a traveling-wave helium–neon laser with a circularly anisotropic resonator. The pressure dependences of the beats between the opposite waves were determined experimentally for two Ne²⁰–Ne²² isotopic mixtures (99.7 and 53% Ne²⁰) and for three ratios of the partial pressures of the components p_He: p_Ne = 14:1, 9:1, and 4:1. The pressure dependences of the beat frequency were also calculated for parameters of the homogeneous (γ_ab) and inhomogeneous (ku) broadening taken from the experimental data. The rates of change of γ_ab with the partial pressures of He and Ne (∂γ_ab/∂p_He = 28.4 ± 1 and ∂γ_ab/∂p_Ne = 9.5 ± 2.5 MHz/mm Hg) and the value of ku (480 ± 15 MHz) were determined.