Free precession decay in selective reflection - art. no. 043410

A theory of free precession in selective reflection is presented. In contra st to standard theories of free precession in which transmission signals de cay in a time on the order of the inverse of the inhomogeneous width, the s elective reflection signal decays in a time of order of the inverse of the homogeneous width. Both short-pulse excitation and continuous-wave (cw) exc itation are considered. In the case of cw excitation, it is possible to obs erve beating between the contributions to the signal that are first and thi rd order in the amplitude of the excitation field.