Picosecond time-resolved four-wave mixing experiments in sodium-seeded flames

Picosecond four-wave mixing experiments have been used to study collisions in a Na-seeded, premixed, methane-air flame. Population gratings are used to measure Na excited-state quenching collision rates, while polarization gratings are used to measure Na ground-state hyperfine coherence randomizing collision rates and overall Na diffusion rates, even though these processes are slower than the excited-state quenching rate.