The validity of the “few-level” approximation in gaseous relaxation phenomena

The Bloch equations including damping are formulated for a molecular system excited by incident radiation. In contrast with a previous treatment the present formalism gives an intuitively satisfactory form of relaxation terms. A three-level system irradiated by a single oscillating field is specifically considered, and using this manifold as a model for a two-level system immersed in a heat bath, the problem of “embedding” a pair of levels connected by radiation within a multi-level manifold is treated. A brief discussion of transient solutions to the Bloch equations is included.