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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

The Kepler ellipses of the hydrogen atom in crossed electric and magnetic fields

E Flothmann, Jörg Main, K. H. Welge

Published Jul 14, 1994• 18 citations
Publisher

Abstract

For the hydrogen atom in crossed, perpendicular, static electric and magnetic fields we show the existence of three elementary Kepler ellipses, two in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field and one, three-dimensional, largely perpendicular to the electric field. They are determined from the symmetry properties in the low field limit, occurring for all external field combinations. Their parameter dependences and stability properties are analysed in detail. In the case that the orbits are stable the corresponding maximum orientated quantum states are identified. For states with sufficient low principal quantum numbers the total splitting of a given n-shell is described by semiclassical quantization of these three Kepler ellipses.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/27/13/012

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For the hydrogen atom in crossed, perpendicular, static electric and magnetic fields we show the existence of three elementary Kepler ellipses, two in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field and one, three-dimensional, largely perpendicular to the electric field. They are determined from the symmetry properties in the low field limit, occurring for all external field combinations. Their parameter dependences and stability properties are analysed in detail. In the case that the orbits are stable the corresponding maximum orientated quantum states are identified. For states with sufficient low principal quantum numbers the total splitting of a given n-shell is described by semiclassical quantization of these three Kepler ellipses.
Using the harmonic oscillator representation of the hydrogen atom and constructing the appropriate coherent state corresponding to the minimum uncertainty product, the classical limits of the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional hydrogen atom are examined. The method adopted is similar to that used by Bhaumik, Dutta Roy and Ghosh (1986). The authors deduce the classical limit by requiring that the expectation value (r) of the radial variable is large for the two-dimensional hydrogen atom. The resulting trajectory is an ellipse satisfying the conditions of the Kepler orbit in classical mechanics. In order to obtain the classical limit of the three-dimensional hydrogen atom, besides the condition of large (r), they make the uncertainty Delta r=((r 2 )-(r) 2 ) 1/2 a minimum with respect to certain parameters of the coherent state. Imposition of only the first condition leads to an elliptical orbit, which is not a Kepler orbit in general. Imposition of both conditions leads to an orbit identical with that of the two-dimensional hydrogen atom. However, the time evolution of the expectation values of position variables are consistent with the corresponding results of the Kepler problem only for small values of eccentricity, but not in general.
For pt. I see ibid., vol.21, no.21, p.3473-98 (1988). The semiclassical approach based on the secular perturbation method, primarily introduced by Solov'ev (1982) to study the pure diamagnetism of hydrogen in the weak-field limit, is extended to the case where the atom is subjected to electric and magnetic fields both parallel to the 0z direction. The structure of the manifold of states with principal quantum number n is governed by the existence of an approximate constant of motion and the states can be classified into three groups. The semiclassical Bohr-Sommerfeld quantisation rule allows the energy of the states to be calculated. The main properties of the spectra and their evolution when one of the fields increases are analysed. An original comparison between the structure of the pure diamagnetic n multiplet with azimuthal quantum number M not=0 and the structure of the n, M=0 multiplet with parallel fields is proposed.
A quantum mechanical study of a simple two-dimensional problem identifies lines in coordinate space about which the probability densities are localised. These lines in general do not correspond to extrema in the system's static potential energy surface. The subject of this study has been the hydrogen atom in externally applied parallel electric and magnetic and magnetic fields. Probability density plots of eigenstates, in which the electron experiences comparable influences from all three fields: Coulomb, electric and magnetic, are each found to display a localisation at a polar angle related to an invariant previously obtained in a classical study of the problem. The line about which localisation occurs is found to vary with energy and is in coincidence with a periodic trajectory found within a classical framework.
The unique properties of the hydrogen atom, especially those that result from the dynamic symmetry of the 1/r potential, are presented from both classical and quantal points of view. Using these properties as a starting point, the response of a classical hydrogen atom, an electron executing a Keplerian ellipse about a proton, to a weak electric field is described. Because the field is weak, the elliptical orbit may be treated as a dynamical element itself, variations in its shape and orientation depicting the classical Stark effect. The behavior of this orbit is then correlated with the quantum mechanical description of the first-order Stark effect in hydrogen, a subject that is included in most introductory courses in quantum mechanics.
The Schrödinger equation for a hydrogenic atom is separable in prolate spheroidal coordinates, as a consequence of the ‘‘hidden symmetry’’ stemming from the fixed spatial orientation of the classical Kepler orbits. One focus is at the nucleus and the other a distance R away along the major axis of the elliptic orbit. The separation constant α is not an elementary function of Z or R or quantum numbers. However, for given principal quantum number n and angular momentum projection m, the allowed values of α and corresponding eigenfunctions in spheroidal coordinates are readily obtained from a secular equation of order n−m. We evaluate α(n,m;ZR) and the coefficients gl(α) that specify the spheroidal eigenfunctions as hybrids of the familiar ‖nlm〉 hydrogen-atom states with fixed n and m but different l values. Explicit formulas and plots are given for α and gl and for the probability distributions derived from the hybrid wave functions, ∑lgl(α)‖nlm〉, for all states up through n=4. In the limit R→∞ these hybrids become the solutions in parabolic coordinates, determined simply by geometrical Clebsch–Gordan coefficients that account for conservation of angular momentum and the hidden symmetry. We also briefly discuss some applications of the spheroidal eigenfunctions, particularly to exact analytic solutions of two-center molecular orbitals for special values of R and the nuclear charge ratio Za/Zb.