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Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Atomic- and electron-beam spectroscopy of rarefied semiquantum media

Eugene P. Bashkin, Sergey B. Stepaniants

Published Feb 1, 1995• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The quantum-mechanical collective effects accompanying the propagation of a low-energy atomic or electron beam through a rarefied medium are discussed. An unusual dissipation mechanism due to the inelastic scattering of a test particle with thermal collective modes is considered. The phenomenon in question comes into effect even in a thin target at distances less than the mean free path calculated for direct atomic collisions. This effect provides the possibility to study the collective many-body properties of the medium by means of traditional atomic (electron) spectroscopy. The differential cross sections for the inelastic scattering of a probe particle with fluctuations of density, macroscopic magnetization, and entropy in the target are expressed in terms of the corresponding structure functions and calculated both in the hydrodynamic and collisionless regimes. The spin-flip transitions as well as the nonflip scattering are considered in detail. Possible applications of the theory to semiquantum systems such as gaseous H\ensuremath{\downarrow}, D\ensuremath{\downarrow}, and dilute $^{3}\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}^{4}$He mixtures as well as some aspects of neutron optics and atomic (electron) spectroscopy are briefly discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.51.3058

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The quantum-mechanical collective effects accompanying the propagation of a low-energy atomic or electron beam through a rarefied medium are discussed. An unusual dissipation mechanism due to the inelastic scattering of a test particle with thermal collective modes is considered. The phenomenon in question comes into effect even in a thin target at distances less than the mean free path calculated for direct atomic collisions. This effect provides the possibility to study the collective many-body properties of the medium by means of traditional atomic (electron) spectroscopy. The differential cross sections for the inelastic scattering of a probe particle with fluctuations of density, macroscopic magnetization, and entropy in the target are expressed in terms of the corresponding structure functions and calculated both in the hydrodynamic and collisionless regimes. The spin-flip transitions as well as the nonflip scattering are considered in detail. Possible applications of the theory to semiquantum systems such as gaseous H\ensuremath{\downarrow}, D\ensuremath{\downarrow}, and dilute 3\ensuremath−4^{3}\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}^{4}3\ensuremath−4He mixtures as well as some aspects of neutron optics and atomic (electron) spectroscopy are briefly discussed.
Due to Pauli blocking of intermediate states, the scattering matrix (or TTT matrix) of two fermionic atoms in a Fermi gas becomes different from that of two atoms in free space. This effect becomes particularly important near a Feshbach resonance, where the interaction in free space is very strong but becomes effectively suppressed in the medium. We calculate the in-medium TTT matrix in ladder approximation and study its effects on the properties of collective modes of a trapped gas in the normal-fluid phase. We introduce the in-medium interaction on both sides of the Boltzmann equation, namely, in the calculation of the mean field and in the calculation of the collision rate. This allows us to explain the observed upward shift of the frequency of the quadrupole mode in the collisionless regime. By including the mean field, we also improve considerably the agreement with the measured temperature dependence of frequency and damping rate of the scissors mode, whereas the use of the in-medium cross section deteriorates the description, in agreement with previous work.
The dynamic structure factor is a central quantity describing the physics of quantum many-body systems, capturing structure and collective excitations of a material. In condensed matter, it can be measured via inelastic neutron scattering, which is an energy-resolving probe for the density fluctuations. In ultracold atoms, a similar approach could so far not be applied because of the diluteness of the system. Here we report on a direct, real-time and nondestructive measurement of the dynamic structure factor of a quantum gas exhibiting cavity-mediated long-range interactions. The technique relies on inelastic scattering of photons, stimulated by the enhanced vacuum field inside a high finesse optical cavity. We extract the density fluctuations, their energy and lifetime while the system undergoes a structural phase transition. We observe an occupation of the relevant quasi-particle mode on the level of a few excitations, and provide a theoretical description of this dissipative quantum many-body system.
Abstract An outstanding defect of the old quantum theory was its inability to treat the phenomena occurring in the collision of electrons with atoms, and Born’s theory showed how the new quantum mechanics was capable of removing this defect. The original theory of Born was a method of successive approximations to the solution of the wave equation representing the colliding systems, and could be applied to both elastic and inelastic collisions. In its actual applications, which could be worked out to the first approximation, the theory fell far short of expectations. The Ramsauer effect, the most interesting phenomenon exhibited in the elastic scattering of electrons, could not be explained, and in the field of inelastic collisions, it failed to provide a means of explaining the excitation of levels of a term system which does not combine with the ground state system, e. g., the excitation of the triplet lines of helium. These failures are, of course, failures of the theory in its first approximation. The first approximation in Born’s method of successive approximations neglected the disturbance of the electron waves by the field of the scatterer, and also the possibility of exchange of electrons between the atoms and the colliding beam. The neglect of both these effects becomes important for low velocity impacts, and it was clear that the Ramsauer effect, which is only observed for low velocity electrons, could only be explained by more accurate theory. The question was whether both effects, the distortion of the electron waves by the atomic field, and the exchange of electrons was important, or only one of them.
Semiclassical calculations of the quasi-elastic l-mixing and inelastic n,l-changing processes in thermal collisions of a Rydberg sodium atom with rare-gas atoms (Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe) as well as and atoms with Ne are presented in a wide range of principal quantum numbers. The main emphasis is put on the study of the effects in the Rydberg-atom - rare-gas-atom collisions associated with both the short- and long-range (polarization) parts of the electron - perturber interaction. It is shown that the polarization interaction between the highly excited electron and the Ne atom provides the major contribution to the cross section of the l-mixing and n, l -changing transitions. We show that the Ramsauer - Townsend effect in slow electron scattering by the heavy rare-gas atoms significantly affects the values of the cross sections, particularly for the inelastic transitions with large energy transfer. A quantitative explanation of these phenomena is given using the recently developed semiclassical normalized perturbation theory for the Rydberg-atom - neutral collisions combined with the modified effective range theory for scattering of slow electrons by the rare-gas atoms.
We suggest that collective oscillation frequencies of cold trapped gases can be used to test predictions from quantum many-body physics. Our motivation lies in both rigid experimental tests of theoretical calculations and a possible improvement of measurements of particle number, chemical potential or temperature. We calculate the effects of interaction, dimensionality and thermal fluctuations on the collective modes of a dilute Bose gas in the hydrodynamic limit. The underlying equation of state is provided by the non-perturbative Functional Renormalization Group or by Lee–Yang theory. The spectrum of oscillation frequencies could be measured by response techniques. Our findings are generalized to bosonic or fermionic quantum gases with an arbitrary equation of state in the two-fluid hydrodynamic regime. For any given equation of state P (μ, T ) and normal fluid density n n (μ, T ), the collective oscillation frequencies in a d -dimensional isotropic potential are found to be the eigenvalues of an ordinary differential operator. We suggest a method of numerical solution and discuss the zero-temperature limit. Exact results are provided for harmonic traps and certain special forms of the equation of state. We also present a phenomenological treatment of dissipation effects and discuss the possibility of exciting the different eigenmodes individually.
Quantum information theory deals with quantum noise in order to protect physical quantum bits (qubits) from its effects. A single electron is an emblematic example of a qubit, and today it is possible to experimentally produce polarized ensembles of electrons. In this paper, the theory of the polarization of electron beams elastically scattered by atoms is briefly summarized. Then the POLARe program suite, a set of computer programs aimed at the calculation of the spin-polarization parameters of electron beams elastically interacting with atomic targets, is described. Selected results of the program concerning Ar, Kr, and Xe atoms are presented together with the comparison with experimental data about the Sherman function for low kinetic energy of the incident electrons (1.5eV-350eV). It is demonstrated that the quantum-relativistic theory of the polarization of electron beams elastically scattered by atoms is in good agreement with experimental data down to energies smaller than a few eV.