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Physical Review A

Magnetic-field-enhanced spontaneous two-photon emission of hydrogenic atoms

P. C. Stancil, G. E. Copeland

Published Jul 1, 1993• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Two-photon transitions for hydrogen and hydrogenlike ions in arbitrary magnetic fields are investigated using currently available nonrelativistic energy levels and one-photon dipole transition probabilities. For hydrogen, the 2s-1s two-photon spontaneous-decay rate is shown to increase rapidly with the strength of the applied field from its field-free value of 8.2284 ${\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ to a maximum of 1.537\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{8}$ ${\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ at 1.41\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{6}$ T, approaching that of the 2p-1s one-photon rate, and to drop slightly to 1.055\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{8}$ ${\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ at 4.7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{8}$ T. The transition rate is shown to scale as ${\mathit{Z}}^{4}$ for hydrogenic ions with nuclear charge Z in fields \ensuremath{\ge}3300${\mathit{Z}}^{2}$ T. The spectral distribution of the photons for the 2s-1s transition in a large field reveals interesting features including resonances due to migration of the 2${\mathit{p}}_{0}$ and 2${\mathit{p}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ energy levels between the 1s and 2s levels and the appearance of minima resulting from destructive interference between the intermediate-state dipole terms. In the field-free case, these spectral features are only present for high-lying-state transitions, i.e., 3s-1s, 4s-1s, etc.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.48.516

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Two-photon transitions for hydrogen and hydrogenlike ions in arbitrary magnetic fields are investigated using currently available nonrelativistic energy levels and one-photon dipole transition probabilities. For hydrogen, the 2s-1s two-photon spontaneous-decay rate is shown to increase rapidly with the strength of the applied field from its field-free value of 8.2284 s\ensuremath−1{\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}s\ensuremath−1 to a maximum of 1.537\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}108{10}^{8}108 s\ensuremath−1{\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}s\ensuremath−1 at 1.41\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}106{10}^{6}106 T, approaching that of the 2p-1s one-photon rate, and to drop slightly to 1.055\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}108{10}^{8}108 s\ensuremath−1{\mathrm{s}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}s\ensuremath−1 at 4.7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}108{10}^{8}108 T. The transition rate is shown to scale as Z4{\mathit{Z}}^{4}Z4 for hydrogenic ions with nuclear charge Z in fields \ensuremath{\ge}3300Z2{\mathit{Z}}^{2}Z2 T. The spectral distribution of the photons for the 2s-1s transition in a large field reveals interesting features including resonances due to migration of the 2p0{\mathit{p}}_{0}p0​ and 2p\ensuremath−1{\mathit{p}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}p\ensuremath−1​ energy levels between the 1s and 2s levels and the appearance of minima resulting from destructive interference between the intermediate-state dipole terms. In the field-free case, these spectral features are only present for high-lying-state transitions, i.e., 3s-1s, 4s-1s, etc.
The two-photon decay mode of hydrogenic atoms from an arbitrary state (n1{n}_{1}n1​, l1{l}_{1}l1​, m1{m}_{1}m1​) to an arbitrary state (n2{n}_{2}n2​, l2{l}_{2}l2​, m2{m}_{2}m2​) is studied within the framework of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. In the dipole approximation, these decay rates, which involve infinite summation over intermediate states, are derived exactly via a general second-order matrix element obtained by Kelsey and Macek and an implicit technique introduced by Dalgarno and Lewis. The results are expressed in terms of hypergeometric functions. For transitions ${n}_{1}s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{n}_{2}s$, our results reduce to those of Klarsfeld whose starting point is the Coulomb Green's function. For transitions to the ground state, an alternative expression involving a simple one-dimensional integral is presented. The decay rate of the 2s2s2s metastable state of atomic hydrogen is calculated as an illustration of the method. The result, $\frac{1}{\ensuremath{\tau}}=8.2284$ ${\mathrm{sec}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, agrees with Klarsfeld. For transitions of ${n}_{1}s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1s$ and ${n}_{1}d\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1s ({n}_{1}\ensuremath{\ge}3)$, the transition rates exhibit interesting and unexpected structures. In particular, "zeros" are found in the two-photon emission spectrum indicating that two-photon emission is not possible at certain frequencies. Physically, these "zeros" are the result of destructive interference between the radiating dipole terms associated with the sum over intermediate states. In addition to the emission spectrum the expected coincidence signal between two detectors monitoring the two photons simultaneously emitted during a two-photon transition is calculated as a function of the angle between the detectors. The angular distribution for the ${n}_{1}d\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1s$ transitions is shown to be significantly different from the ${n}_{1}s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1s$ transitions. Finally, a possible experiment is suggested to test the results presented in this paper.
Non-relativistic rates for the decay of 2s hydrogen atoms to the ground state by single-photon and two-photon emission in the presence of a homogeneous magnetic field of arbitrary strength (0<or=B<or=4.7*10 6 T) are calculated by variational procedures. Over the whole range of B, two-photon emission is the dominant process. As the magnetic field grows, the two-photon decay rate increases. It is found that the Markov approximation can be applied to the two-photon decay for magnetic fields of strength B>or=4.7*10 3 T.
The hyperfine levels for the ground state of hydrogen are normally connected by magnetic dipole transitions. However, for astrophysical applications, it may be that two-photon electric dipole processes are also important over cosmological distances. This thesis sets up a general mathematical formalism for the calculation of two-photon processes within the hyperfine structure of an atom with spin 1/21/21/2, and applies it to the ground state of hydrogen. Rates are calculated for both spontaneous emission and absorption of radiation. Due to an extraordinary degree of cancellation in the matrix elements, the rates turn out to be too small to have a significant impact on astrophysical processes involving the absorption and emission of radiation. The results are nevertheless important in reducing the uncertainty due to possible contributions from these processes. Other two-photon processes involving Raman scattering are also considered and the relevant cross sections calculated. The calculations of the decay rate, absorption coefficient and Raman scattering cross section are extended to heavier hydrogenic ions as a function of the nuclear charge ZZZ, using an approximate interpolation formula for the hyperfine splitting in the ground state. Results are presented for the hydrogenlike ions from He+^++ to Pb81+^{81+}81+. Modifications for the case of isotopes with a nuclear spin greater than 1/21/21/2 are briefly considered
One- and two-photon transitions in the hydrogen atom are analytically evaluated in the absence and in the presence of an external electric field. The emission probabilities are different for the hydrogen and anti-hydrogen atoms due to the existence of contributions, linear in electric field. The magnitude of these contributions is evaluated within the nonrelativistic limit. The Coulomb Green function method is applied. Different nonrelativistic "forms" for the decay probabilities in combination with different gauge choices are considered. The three-photon E1E1E1 2p-1s transition probability is also evaluated and possible applications of the results are discussed.
The angular correlations in the two-photon decay of hydrogenlike ions are studied within the framework of second-order perturbation theory, based on Dirac's equation. Particular attention has been paid to the effects which arise from the higher (nondipole) terms in the expansion of the electron-photon interaction. It is shown that the photon-photon angular correlation function, which is found symmetric with respect to the angle $\ensuremath{\theta}=90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ in the electric dipole approximation, becomes asymmetric because of the nondipole contributions, and that this effect is enhanced as the nuclear charge ZZZ increases. Detailed computations on the photon-photon angular distribution have been carried out for the $2{s}_{1∕2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1{s}_{1∕2}$ and $3{d}_{5∕2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1{s}_{1∕2}$ transitions in neutral hydrogen (H) as well as for hydrogenlike xenon (Xe53+)({\mathrm{Xe}}^{53+})(Xe53+) and uranium (U91+)({\mathrm{U}}^{91+})(U91+) ions, and are compared with previous nonrelativistic results by Au [Phys. Rev. A 14, 531 (1976)]).
The two-photon transition rate for hydrogen is evaluated with the $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{E}}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{x}}$ and the $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{A}}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{p}}$ interactions including the continuum. We find that the $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{E}}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{x}}$ interaction approaches the final result with a small number of intermediate states and consequently is the one to be used in any approximate calculation. Numerical values of the two-photon absorption coefficient as a function of frequency are given and the resonance enhancement is exhibited.