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Physical Review A

Possible influence of core effects in Rydberg-atom–neutral collisions at thermal energies, within the framework of the impulse approximation

F. Gounand, L. Petitjean

Published Aug 1, 1985• 16 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The influence of the ionic core in Rydberg-atom--neutral collisions is evaluated within the framework of the impulse approach. It is shown that this contribution exhibits the same n behavior as that due to the Rydberg-electron--perturber interaction, though its magnitude is usually smaller. The general features of the core-perturber contribution are investigated. It is shown that there exists some situations for which effects ascribable to the core-perturber interaction are expected to be noticeable.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.32.793

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Thermal collisions of Rydberg atoms with neutrals

M. Raymond Flannery

A new theoretical method outlined here for an important inelastic mechanism based on A-B + encounters in A-B(n) thermal collisions indicates a substantial contribution to l-changing transitions which therefore cannot be viewed as proceeding via (e-A) encounters alone. Recent descriptions of l-changing thermal collisions which are based on an (e-A) impulse treatment appear defective in that they disregard certain impulse validity criteria and yield results which greatly exceed the upper limit specified by the basic impulse expression, and do not recognise the above important inelastic mechanism associated with the non-inertiality of the core.

Journal of Physics B Atomic and Molecular Physics•Nov 28, 1980•16 citations
The influence of the ionic core in Rydberg-atom--neutral collisions is evaluated within the framework of the impulse approach. It is shown that this contribution exhibits the same n behavior as that due to the Rydberg-electron--perturber interaction, though its magnitude is usually smaller. The general features of the core-perturber contribution are investigated. It is shown that there exists some situations for which effects ascribable to the core-perturber interaction are expected to be noticeable.
The validity of the impulse approximation (IA) in thermal Rydberg-neutral collisions rests critically on the semiclassical nature of the Coulomb binding potential. The authors have shown that the IA is valid in both thermal and high-Rydberg-neutral collisions by estimating the second-order terms of the IA. The authors have also indicated that the thermal quasielastic state-changing collisions of the high-Rydberg atoms with the neutrals can be viewed as proceeding via the Rydberg electron-neutral encounters. The core effect proposed by Flannery (1982) is shown to be unimportant for the case of thermal quasielastic Rydberg-neutral collisions.
For pt.I see ibid., vol.14, p.985 (1981). A general theory of the Rydberg atom inelastic scattering by perturber atoms has been developed previously, in which the leading term is the simple impulse amplitude, followed by the various correction terms. Theoretical estimates of these correction terms are presented in this paper, resulting in a general scaling formula. The non-impulse correction to the impulse approximation varies as n -2 at large principal quantum number n and depends on the signature of the electron-perturber scattering length. The distortion correction due to the interaction between the perturber and the Rydberg atomic core is large for the intermediate values of n<or approximately=20 behaves as n -4 , and depends on the perturber-core total cross section. The scaling formula derived here has been tested for the scattering systems consisting of Na and Rb targets and inert gas perturbers.
A general theoretical formulation of the Rydberg-atom-neutral-atom inelastic processes is presented in order to define precisely the physical content of the simple impulse picture and to develop a systematic correction procedure. A simple modification of the impulse amplitude is then introduced to incorporate the distortion effect caused by the presence of the core of Rydberg atom. A preliminary calculation provides a reasonable description of the inelastic scattering involving low principal quantum numbers as well.
The impulse approximation for the Rydberg atom-atom collisions is analyzed on the basis of the Faddeev equations. A modified expression is derived for the cross sections, including the interference between the Rydberg-electron--perturber scattering and the ion-core--perturber scattering. This expression is used for the calculations of the collisional quenching and elastic scattering in Rb(nS)-Rb and Rb(nP)-Rb collisions. We use the electron-Rb scattering phase shifts obtained from ab initio close-coupling calculations and their extrapolation, applying the modified effective-range theory. Our results show that the impulse approximation agrees with the experimental data for the quenching cross sections at n>20 but underestimates the quenching cross sections at lower n. The position of the maximum of the cross section is in good agreement with experimental data. We also obtain reasonable results for the elastic cross section at n>20, but for the lower n the results are too large. The interference effect plays a minor role in the process, which means that simultaneous electron-perturber and ion-perturber interaction is unlikely.
A new theoretical method outlined here for an important inelastic mechanism based on A-B + encounters in A-B(n) thermal collisions indicates a substantial contribution to l-changing transitions which therefore cannot be viewed as proceeding via (e-A) encounters alone. Recent descriptions of l-changing thermal collisions which are based on an (e-A) impulse treatment appear defective in that they disregard certain impulse validity criteria and yield results which greatly exceed the upper limit specified by the basic impulse expression, and do not recognise the above important inelastic mechanism associated with the non-inertiality of the core.