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Journal of Physics B Atomic and Molecular Physics

Quenching collisions of rubidium in the nS (32⩽n⩽45) Rydberg levels with helium

M Hugon, P. R. Fournier, E. de Prunelé

Published Nov 14, 1981• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Reports measurements of the cross sections for collisional quenching of highly excited rubidium nS (32<or=n<or=45) states by helium. A time-resolved selective field ionisation technique is used for this study. The experimental results are compared with the values calculated using an approximate scaling formula.
DOI
10.1088/0022-3700/14/21/018

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The cross sections for quasi-elastic and inelastic collisional processes between rubidium in non-hydrogenic Rydberg nS and nD states and helium have been measured. The quenching cross section of the Rydberg levels seems to behave similarly for different series, it first increases with n and then reaches a maximum, which is more or less shifted towards low n values, depending on the proximity of the highly degenerate hydrogenic neighbouring levels. The authors' experimental results and those previously obtained are in fair agreement (within a factor of 3 in the worst cases) with the values computed using a simple theoretical approach only taking into account the Rydberg electron-helium interaction.
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The authors have measured the cross sections for the collisional quenching of highly excited (34<or=n<or=43) S rubidium atoms by ground-state rubidium atoms. The comparison between their data and the values calculated using a theoretical approach that only takes into account the valence electron-ground-state rubidium interaction provides the first experimental estimation of the cross section for the elastic scattering of ultra-low-energy electrons (E approximately=0.01 eV) by rubidium atoms. Their results for the quenching are connected to the available measurements of the self-broadening of the rubidium (5S-nS) lines by using a recent theoretical model: for n approximately 40 the self-broadcasting is essentially due to inelastic collisions. An upper limit is given for the cross section for the isotopic transfer between 85 Rb(nS) and 87 Rb(nS) states due to collisions with ground-state rubidium atoms.
This paper reports the measurement of the depopulation cross sections of the Rb(ns) and Rb(nd) states by ND3{\mathrm{ND}}_{3}ND3​ (23\ensuremath{\le}n\ensuremath{\le}50). The experimental data are discussed with reference to previous work done on collisions between Rb(ns) and Rb(nd) states and NH3{\mathrm{NH}}_{3}NH3​.