On the role of Dicke narrowing in the formation of atomic line shapes in the optical domain

The purpose of this work is to verify the possibility of the observation of the Dicke narrowing of atomic spectral lines in the optical domain. As an example we have chosen experimental results obtained by means of a laser-induced fluorescence method for the Cd-114 326.1 nm line perturbed by xenon. Experimental results were carefully reanalysed using a line shape model which takes into account the speed dependence of collisional broadening and shifting, the velocity-changing collisions and the collision-time asymmetry. We have found no convincing evidence for the occurrence of Dicke narrowing of the 326.1 cadmium line perturbed by xenon. The Dick narrowing (if it occurs at all) appears to be smaller than that resulting from the estimation based on the accessible data describing the diffusion of Cd in Xe. As a source of this behaviour the correlation between velocity-changing and dephasing collisions was indicated.