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Journal of Physics B Atomic and Molecular Physics

Comments on 'Thermal collisions of Rydberg atoms with neutrals'

M. Raymond Flannery

Published Sep 28, 1982• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Various comments by Matsuzawa (1981) on validity criteria for application of the impulse approximation to A-B(n, l) collisions are examined and are shown to be without basis. The weak-binding and quasi-classical conditions are discussed and a connection between classical momentum and angular momentum changes is developed.
DOI
10.1088/0022-3700/15/18/020

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Thermal collisions of Rydberg atoms with neutrals

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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.

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

F. Gounand, L. Petitjean

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.

Physical Review A•Aug 1, 1985•16 citations
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.