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Journal of Physics B Atomic and Molecular Physics

The effect of core interactions in l-mixing collisions of Rydberg atoms with rare gases

A. P. Hickman

Published Jul 14, 1981• 25 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Coupled-channel calculations for collisions of Na Rydberg atoms with He and Ar have been performed to investigate the effect of the interaction between the Na + core and the rare gas. For n=10, channels corresponding to the levels nd and nf are included, and calculations are reported both with and without terms arising from the core. It is found that the inelastic cross sections (10 to 10f) are insensitive to the core interactions, whereas the elastic cross sections (10d to 10d) may change significantly. This result is consistent with the prediction of the first-order Born approximation.

DOI
10.1088/0022-3700/14/13/003

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CALCULATION OF l-MIXING CROSS SECTION IN THERMAL COLLISION OF RYDBERG STATE Na ATOM WITH RARE GAS

Hen A

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Acta Physica Sinica•Jan 1, 1991•0 citations
Coupled-channel calculations for collisions of Na Rydberg atoms with He and Ar have been performed to investigate the effect of the interaction between the Na + core and the rare gas. For n=10, channels corresponding to the levels nd and nf are included, and calculations are reported both with and without terms arising from the core. It is found that the inelastic cross sections (10 to 10f) are insensitive to the core interactions, whereas the elastic cross sections (10d to 10d) may change significantly. This result is consistent with the prediction of the first-order Born approximation.
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.
A theory of inelastic n,l-changing and quasielastic l-mixing collisions of Rydberg atoms with the heavy rare-gas atoms is developed. It is based on the semiclassical impact-parameter approach combined with the normalized perturbation theory. Semiclassical formulas for scaled transition probabilities and cross sections as functions of the inelasticity parameter and the collision strength are analyzed. This approach gives a general description of collisional nl\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\mathit{n}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ transitions independently of the specific values of the principal quantum number, the relative velocity, and the type of colliding atoms. The energy and angular dependence of the electron-atom scattering amplitude is included in the theory by incorporating the impulse-approximation results in the weak-coupling limit. The Ramsauer-Townsend effect affects significantly the values of the cross sections, especially for the inelastic transitions with large energy transfer. The results obtained are used in calculations of the quenching cross sections for the Rb(nS,nD,nF) atoms in collisions with Ar, Kr, and Xe. Comparison of theory and experiment is made in a wide range of the principal quantum numbers and transition energy defects. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
A classical model for l mixing of Rydberg states in atomic collisions is described. The primary assumption of the model is that l changing occurs in a single hard-sphere collision between the Rydberg electron and the perturbing atom which is represented by the zero-energy scattering length L. Predictions of the model, which are in the form of cross sections as functions of principal quantum number n, are compared with data for l mixing of Na(nd) and Rb(nf) by rare-gas atoms. Agreement is, in most cases, quite good, comparable with that of other, more sophisticated, models. It is shown that, because the calculation must be carried out in the reference frame of the ion core, the energy deficit between low angular momentum states and the nearest hydrogenic manifold can be made up in a single collision between the Rydberg electron and the perturbing atom, an effect that is analogous to the gravitational slingshot effect used to alter the orbits of a spacecraft under the influence of the Sun's gravitational field. Comparison of data for l mixing by ground-state Rb atoms with model calculations in which L is treated as a free parameter leads to an estimate of 10 a.u. for the zero-energy scattering length of Rb.
A coupled-channel approach based on the Arthurs and Dalgarno formalism is presented to describe the scattering of a Rydberg atom and a rare-gas atom. The method permits the calculation of cross sections for changes in the electronic orbital angular momentum of the Rydberg atom. The theory explicitly relates the scattering behavior of the Rydberg state to the electron-rare-gas scattering length. Preliminary results for Na∗(nd){\mathrm{Na}}^{*}(\mathrm{nd})Na∗(nd)+He and Na∗(nf){\mathrm{Na}}^{*}(\mathrm{nf})Na∗(nf)+He are in good agreement with experiment.
The collisional angular-momentum mixing of $n=5\ensuremath{-}15$ Na ddd states with the l>2l>2l>2 states of the same nnn has been studied using He, Ne, and Ar as collision partners. At rare-gas pressures of \ensuremath{\sim}1 Torr, the $l\ensuremath{\ge}2$ states are thoroughly mixed and the mixture decays at the average radiative lifetime of all the $l\ensuremath{\ge}2$ states of the same nnn. Using \ensuremath{\sim}1 Torr of neon to collisionally mix the $l\ensuremath{\ge}2$ states, the average lifetime for $l\ensuremath{\ge}2$ was measured for each nnn and compared to the theoretical prediction for hydrogen, with which it is in excellent agreement. The cross section for lll mixing by each of the gases is found to increase sharply from n=5to10n=5 \mathrm{to} 10n=5to10 and decrease above n=10n=10n=10. The magnitudes of the lll-mixing cross sections are found to correlate with the low-energy scattering lengths of the collision partners.