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Journal of Physics B Atomic and Molecular Physics

Collisional properties of highly excited rubidium atoms

M Hugon, F. Gounand, P. R. Fournier, J. Berlande

Published Aug 28, 1979• 68 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The quenching cross sections of various highly excited states of rubidium have been measured for different perturbing gases (He, Ar, Xe, ground-state rubidium). The quenching of the hydrogenic nF states is shown to be mainly a l-mixing process. The behaviour as a function of n (9<or=n<or=21) and the magnitude of the l-mixing cross sections seem mainly to reflect the range of interaction between the highly excited electron and the perturber.

DOI
10.1088/0022-3700/12/16/017

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52P1/2 ↔ 52P3/2 mixing and 52S1/2 ← 52P1/2, 2P3/2 quenching in rubidium, induced in collisions with ground state H2, HD, D2, N2, CH4, CD4, C2H4, and C2H6 molecules, have been investigated using methods of sensitized fluorescence. The rubidium vapor mixed with each of the gases was excited in turn by each component of the rubidium resonance doublet, and the resulting fluorescence, emitted at right angles to the direction of the exciting light, was resolved into the two fine-structure components whose intensity ratios were measured in relation to the gas pressure using photon counting techniques. The measurements yielded the following cross sections for the mixing and quenching collisions.For H2: Q12(2P1/2 → 2P3/2) = 11 Å2, Q21(2P1/2 ← 2P3/2) = 15 Å2, Q10(2S1/2 ← 2P1/2) = 6 Å2, Q20(2S1/2 ← 2P3/2) = 3 Å2.[Formula: see text]The mixing cross sections agree with theoretical values within an order of magnitude.

Canadian Journal of Physics•Nov 15, 1970•95 citations
The quenching cross sections of various highly excited states of rubidium have been measured for different perturbing gases (He, Ar, Xe, ground-state rubidium). The quenching of the hydrogenic nF states is shown to be mainly a l-mixing process. The behaviour as a function of n (9<or=n<or=21) and the magnitude of the l-mixing cross sections seem mainly to reflect the range of interaction between the highly excited electron and the perturber.
The cross sections for the quenching of highly excited Rb(nS) (32<or=n<or=45) and Rb(nD) (30<or=n<or=41) states have been measured for the different rare gases. In most cases studied, the quenching cross sections seem rather constant or slightly decreasing with n for a given series and a given rare gas. The experimental data are compared with the results of calculations using various theoretical approaches. It is shown that in this range of large n values the main process responsible for the quenching is the Rydberg-electron-rare-gas interaction, as previously stated for lower n values (10<or=n<or=20).
The cross sections for quasi-elastic and inelastic collisional processes between rubidium in non-hydrogenic Rydberg nS and nD states and helium have been measured. The quenching cross section of the Rydberg levels seems to behave similarly for different series, it first increases with n and then reaches a maximum, which is more or less shifted towards low n values, depending on the proximity of the highly degenerate hydrogenic neighbouring levels. The authors' experimental results and those previously obtained are in fair agreement (within a factor of 3 in the worst cases) with the values computed using a simple theoretical approach only taking into account the Rydberg electron-helium interaction.
The authors have measured the cross sections for the collisional quenching of highly excited (34<or=n<or=43) S rubidium atoms by ground-state rubidium atoms. The comparison between their data and the values calculated using a theoretical approach that only takes into account the valence electron-ground-state rubidium interaction provides the first experimental estimation of the cross section for the elastic scattering of ultra-low-energy electrons (E approximately=0.01 eV) by rubidium atoms. Their results for the quenching are connected to the available measurements of the self-broadening of the rubidium (5S-nS) lines by using a recent theoretical model: for n approximately 40 the self-broadcasting is essentially due to inelastic collisions. An upper limit is given for the cross section for the isotopic transfer between 85 Rb(nS) and 87 Rb(nS) states due to collisions with ground-state rubidium atoms.
The total quenching cross sections for $\mathrm{He}({n}^{1,3}S)(2\ensuremath{\le}n\ensuremath{\le}11)$ states by thermal collisions [600(+ 200, - 100) K] with He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe have been measured. The main quenching mechanism is attributed to Penning ionization for lower nnn, and collisional angular-momentum transfer for highly excited states. Measured cross sections are of the order of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}15}$ to ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}14}$, cm2{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}cm2. The values for higher nnn states are much smaller than the geometrical cross section; this is explained by a relatively large energy spread between the SSS state and $l\ensuremath{\ge}1$ states.
52P1/2 ↔ 52P3/2 mixing and 52S1/2 ← 52P1/2, 2P3/2 quenching in rubidium, induced in collisions with ground state H2, HD, D2, N2, CH4, CD4, C2H4, and C2H6 molecules, have been investigated using methods of sensitized fluorescence. The rubidium vapor mixed with each of the gases was excited in turn by each component of the rubidium resonance doublet, and the resulting fluorescence, emitted at right angles to the direction of the exciting light, was resolved into the two fine-structure components whose intensity ratios were measured in relation to the gas pressure using photon counting techniques. The measurements yielded the following cross sections for the mixing and quenching collisions.For H2: Q12(2P1/2 → 2P3/2) = 11 Å2, Q21(2P1/2 ← 2P3/2) = 15 Å2, Q10(2S1/2 ← 2P1/2) = 6 Å2, Q20(2S1/2 ← 2P3/2) = 3 Å2.[Formula: see text]The mixing cross sections agree with theoretical values within an order of magnitude.