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Physical Review

Interaction of Optical and Infrared Radiation with Metastable Hydrogen Atoms

Wolfgang Zernik

Published Jan 6, 1964• 41 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This paper is an extension of a previous one and discusses the theory of the quenching of the metastable $2S$ state of atomic hydrogen by means of optical radiation, for example by the light from a ruby laser. The case discussed is that for which the incident intensity is sufficiently weak for the usual quantum-electrodynamical perturbation theory to be valid. A procedure developed by Schwartz and others is used to carry out the sum over intermediate states without explicit enumeration. The results are given for a range of incident wavelengths from 5000 \AA{} to 5\ensuremath{\mu}. For unpolarized light from a ruby laser (6934 \AA{}), the total cross section for quenching is found to be ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{Q}=1.27\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}22}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. The cross section for coherent scattering has also been calculated for the same range of wavelengths; for ruby laser light, the total cross section for scattering is found to be ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{S}=1.03\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}23}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$.

DOI
10.1103/physrev.133.a117

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This paper is an extension of a previous one and discusses the theory of the quenching of the metastable 2S2S2S state of atomic hydrogen by means of optical radiation, for example by the light from a ruby laser. The case discussed is that for which the incident intensity is sufficiently weak for the usual quantum-electrodynamical perturbation theory to be valid. A procedure developed by Schwartz and others is used to carry out the sum over intermediate states without explicit enumeration. The results are given for a range of incident wavelengths from 5000 \AA{} to 5\ensuremath{\mu}. For unpolarized light from a ruby laser (6934 \AA{}), the total cross section for quenching is found to be \ensuremathσQ=1.27\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10\ensuremath−22{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{Q}=1.27\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}22}\ensuremathσQ​=1.27\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10\ensuremath−22 cm2{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}cm2. The cross section for coherent scattering has also been calculated for the same range of wavelengths; for ruby laser light, the total cross section for scattering is found to be \ensuremathσS=1.03\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10\ensuremath−23{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{S}=1.03\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}23}\ensuremathσS​=1.03\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10\ensuremath−23 cm2{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}cm2.
This paper discusses the theory of the quenching of a metastable atomic state by means of a high-frequency electromagnetic wave. The particular problem for which numerical results are presented is that of the quenching of the metastable 2S2S2S state of atomic hydrogen by means of the light from a ruby laser. The general theory is worked out both by means of the quantum electrodynamical perturbation theory and by means of a strong signal theory. The relation between these two techniques is discussed.
This paper discusses the general theory of two-photon ionization of a hydrogenic state in the nonrelativistic dipole approximation. An application is made to the photoionization of the metastable 2S2S2S state of atomic hydrogen by optical radiation, for example, by the light from a ruby laser. The sum over intermediate states is carried out exactly by means of an implicit technique. The results are given for a range of wave-lengths from the threshold at 7290 down to 4556 \AA{}. At 6943 \AA{}, the total cross section per unit intensity is found to be 5.35\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}29}$ cm4{\mathrm{cm}}^{4}cm4 ${\mathrm{W}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. The lowest order damping corrections to the perturbation-theory results are worked out.