title: Observation of atomic-pair absorption with an incoherent source.
abstract: We report the observation of atomic-pair absorption in barium and in barium-thallium vapors using a white-light source. At atomic densities on the order of 10(17) atoms/cm(3) we measure absorptions of 2.9% cm(-1) for Ba-Ba and 2.3% cm(-1) for Ba-TI. In both cases, the absorption maxima occur at the predicted (R = infinity) wavelength and have a full width at half maximum of approximately 15 cm(-1).
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Zdasiuk
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Harris