The exactly soluble model, originally considered by Moshinsky, consisting of two spin-1/2 particles interacting through harmonic-oscillator forces and moving in a common harmonic-oscillator potential is extended to include the effects of an external electric field. We solve for the energy exactly, exactly in the Hartree–Fock approximation, and also compare to the results of Hartree–Fock perturbation theory. We find that the Hartree–Fock method yields the same result for the electric polarizability as the exact solution even though the field-independent part of the energy is not the same. However, when second-order Hartree–Fock perturbation theory is employed, the results for the polarizability can be substantially in error. Similar results obtain for the calculation of the matrix element for optical absorption in the dipole approximation.
Calculations of the static electric-dipole scalar and tensor polarizabilities are presented for two alkali-metal atoms, Rb and Cs, for the $nS, n{P}_{\textonehalf{},\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}3/2}$, and
nD3/2,5/2 states with large principal quantum numbers up to
n=50. The calculations are performed within an effective one-electron approximation, based on the Dirac-Fock Hamiltonian with a semiempirical core-polarization potential. The obtained results are compared with those from a simpler semiempirical approach and with available experimental data.
We determine the static values of the scalar and tensor dipole polarizabilities of the ground, 6s6p 3 P 0 o , and 6s6p 3 P 1 o states of the Yb atom. These results can be useful in many experiments undertaken using this atom. We employed a combined configuration interaction (CI) method and a second-order many-body perturbation theory (MBPT) to evaluate energies and electric dipole (E1) matrix elements of many low-lying excited states of the above atom. These values are compared with the other available theoretical calculations and experimental values. By combining these E1 matrix elements with the experimental excitation energies, we estimate the dominant valence correlation contributions to the dipole polarizabilities of the above states. The core contribution is obtained from the finite field approach. We also compare these values with the other theoretical results as there are no precise experimental values that are available for these properties.
The dominant long-range interaction of an alkali-metal atom with charged particles at low energies is given for large separation R by the dispersive potential $W\ensuremath{\simeq}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{d}{/R}^{4}$ in terms of the dipole polarizability ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{d}.$ For atoms prepared initially in Rydberg states of quantum numbers (n, l), the potential assumes a more complicated form due to the complete or near degeneracy of the n manifold. Contributions to the polarizability are treated in two parts, (a) one for the nondegenerate states and (b) the other for the degenerate or near degenerate cases. It is shown that ${\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}_{d}^{(b)}$ for case (b) is in general R dependent, and in the limit of complete degeneracy, diverges as
R2. That is, for a small energy gap \ensuremath{\Delta} between a pair of nearly degenerate states which are dipole coupled, the dispersion potential ${W}^{(b)}\ensuremath{\simeq}{D/R}^{2}$ for
R<Rx and ${W}^{(b)}\ensuremath{\simeq}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{d}^{(b)}{/R}^{4}$ for
R>Rx, where D is the dipole moment, ${R}_{x}=[2|D/\ensuremath{\Delta}|{]}^{1/2},$ and ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{d}^{(b)}\ensuremath{\simeq}{D}^{2}/\ensuremath{\Delta}.$ They may also compete with a
1/R3 potential for Rydberg atoms with
l>0. The total ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{d}$ can be very large in magnitude for small \ensuremath{\Delta} and even assume negative values, but the corresponding
Rx also increases as \ensuremath{\Delta} decreases. The validity region in R of the ${R}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ behavior of the potential recedes to larger R as the polarizability grows. A general formula for ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{d}$ is given, taking into account the effects of fine-structure splitting, the Lamb shift, and quantum defects.
The static electric dipole polarizability of the
4s2(1S0) ground state of the calcium atom has been measured using an electric deflection technique. The result is normalized to the polarizability of lithium by comparing deflections of calcium and lithium beams passing through an inhomogeneous electrostatic field. We find (25 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 2.5) \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}24}$
cm3 for the polarizability of calcium.