Angular momentum coherences of helium atoms excited by proton impact

Using electric-field anticrossing techniques, we investigated the coherent excitation ofn=5–8 He I states with different orbital angular momenta by proton impact. These measurements give strong evidence that saddle dynamics of H ₂ ⁺ -like systems are well suited for describing the final phase of 12.5 keV H⁺-He collisions. We conclude that, besides electron promotion via the 2pσ orbital, the collision system undergoes diabatic 1sσ–3dσ transitions during the close encounter and present an explanation of the electric dipole moments measured for excitation of H(n=2) states by H⁺-He and H-He collisions.     

Classical trajectory study of orientation and alignment effects for charge exchange processes in H+- Na*(3p m) collisions

The orientation and alignment effects for charge exchange in H⁺ + Na*(3p) collisions are studied using the classical trajectory Monte-Carlo method in the energy range from 1 to 8 keV. For Na*(3p _-1) → H*(2s, 2p _±1) transitions a large orientation effect is predicted by the probability functions, in very good agreement with semiclassical calculations. Angular differential cross sections are also calculated and interpreted using the impact parameter dependence of the proton deflection angle. They predict left-right asymmetry in agreement with semiclassical calculations or experimental results, but slightly smaller. Another geometry, not experimentally realized, is considered, where the proton velocity is parallel to the quantization axis of the p _±1 oriented states. Charge exchange from different aligned states with respect to the direction of the projectile velocity is also investigated, but the alignment effects are not as well described as the orientation effects. Total cross sections from oriented or aligned states with cylindrical symmetry around the projectile velocity direction are calculated and allow the hypothesis of velocity matching to be tested.     

Excitation and charge transfer in He++H collisions

For the conflictive case of He⁺+H collisions, we present a norm-method optimization of the parameters included in the (often used) two-electron translation factor of Errea et al. As surmised in a previous publication, a strong cut-off is needed at short internuclear distances to prevent the translation factor from marring the properities of the molecular expansion there. With a basis of 16 molecular states, we present the first calculations including translation factors, of total and partial charge exchange and excitation cross sections in He⁺+H collisions, as well as the alignment parameter A₂₀ for hydrogen excitation. Good agreement with experiment is reached up to the energy range where ionization and charge exchange cross sections are comparable.     

Polarization studies of Lyman-α radiation emitted in atom-H2-molecule collisions

A polarization study of Lyman-α radiation emitted in collisions of H⁺, H, He⁺, and He projectiles with H₂ molecules has been performed at projectile energies ranging from 1–25 keV. In H⁺?H₂ and H?H₂ collisions, the measured linear polarization is negative at low incident velocities, indicating a preferred alignment of the excited electron charge cloud perpendicular to the incident projectile direction. This is taken as significance for a rotational coupling which in these two collision systems predominantly populates the H(2p _±1) substates. In He⁺?H₂ and He?H₂ collisions, the measured linear polarization is about zero and independent of the projectile energy. In these more asymmetric systems,a′?a′ and a′?a″ couplings are now of comparable magnitude.     

Formation of H3+ in Collisions of H2+ with H2 Studied in a Guided Ion Beam Instrument

In order to study collisions between ions and neutrals, a new Guided Ion Beam (GIB) apparatus, called NOVion, has been assembled and tested. The primary purpose of this instrument is to measure absolute cross sections at energies relevant for technical or inter- and circumstellar plasmas. New and improved results are presented for forming H₃⁺ in collisions of H₂⁺ with H₂. Between 0.1 eV and 2 eV, our measured effective cross sections are in good overall agreement with most previous measurements. However, at higher energies, our results do not show the steep decline, recommended in the standard literature. After critical evaluation of all experimental and theoretical data, a new analytical function is proposed, describing properly the dependence of the title reaction on the collision energy up to 10 eV.     

Alignment of H(2p) in H-He,Ne, Ar collisions

The integral alignmentA ₂₀ was investigated for H(2p) excitation in H-He, Ne, Ar collisions at incident energies of 1–25 keV. The experimental results are compared with theoretical calculations based on different theoretical models. Calculations which do not account for the quasi-molecular aspect of the collision process are at variance with the experimental data below incident energies of 10 keV. Above 15 keV, fair agreement is obtained with calculations which include simultaneous excitation of both projectile and target.     

Complex formation in proton—D2 collisions

Classical trajectory calculations are used to compute the formation cross section (suitably defined) for strongly interacting collision complexes formed in H⁺ + D₂ collisions in the kinetic energy range from 0.1 to 4 eV. This cross section corresponds to the usual Langevin cross section only if the kinetic energy is less than 0.2 eV, and provided that little initial excitation is present, while for higher kinetic energies it drops exponentially. It is in much better agreement with absolute integral cross sections observed experimentally than the latter. Further study shows that it is the contribution from large orbital anglular momenta, which the Langevin cross section overestimates. Orbiting complexes (of H⁺ around D₂) play a negligible role, and are very short-lived. The lifetime of strongly coupled complexes is estimated to be 450 E^?1.3 fs, where E is the total energy in eV. The use of trajectory data to improve Light's phase space theory is discussed.     

Collision dynamics of excited NaK. I. Reactive KNaK and elastic HeNaK collisions

The collision dynamics of excited NaK have been studied using the technique of circularly polarised laser fluorescence. A very unusual m-dependent rate is observed for KNaK* reactive or quenching collisions which is different depending on whether the initial excitation is via Q or P, R transitions. A model is presented attributing this to the spatial distribution of the ¹Π Λ-doublet components and the influence of the nuclear function. Elastic HeNaK collisions are observed and a reorientation cross section for f = 30 was evaluated. This was found to have an upper limit of 0.3 Ų. Comparison of this with HeLi₂ reorientation cross sections indicate that the presence of a permanent dipole moment has little effect on the reorientation rate in rare gas-alkali dimer collisions.     

The collision-induced electric dipole moment of H(n=2) in H-He,Ne and Ar collisions

The collision-induced electric dipole moment of H(n=2) in H(1s)-Ne and H(1s)-Ar collisions was measured in an energy range of 1 to 25 keV. For these systems we observe a positive electric dipole moment which corresponds to an electron lagging behind the proton. This behaviour is in contrast to recent measurements for the H-He systems, where a negative dipole moment corresponding to an electron moving in front of the proton was observed. A simple explanation for this difference is given.     

Dynamics of the reaction H2+(He,H)HeH+. Influence of various forms of reactant energy on the total and differential cross section

Results of quasiclassical trajectory calculations of reactive processes between He atoms and H₂⁺ (υ, J) molecular ions in the collision energy interval 0.5–5.0 eV (c.m.) for a large number of selected υ, J combinations are analyzed with respect to the influence of the initial translational, vibrational, and rotational energy on the total and differential reaction cross sections. Vibrational energy is more effective in promoting the reaction than translational energy. Small rotational excitation has a negligible effect, whereas high rotational excitation has a similar influence on the reaction cross sections as the vibrational excitation of the same magnitude.     

Classical rotational cross sections for H2—HD and HD—HD collisions

Classical trajectory calculations of integral cross sections for rotationally inelastic collisions of HD-para H₂ and HD—HD were carried out for a wide variety of transitions over a wide range of initial relative translational energies. The results of the HD—H₂ calculations were compared with the quantum effective potential calculations of Chu. It was found that the classical method is in reasonably good agreement with the quantum method for the calculation of rotational transitions of HD at the higher initial translational energies, but the classical method is in poor agreement with quantum results for HD excitation at low energies and for H₂ excitations at all energies.     

Excitation of He—41 D-substates by He+- and Ne+-projectiles investigated by level-crossing techniques

Collisions of He⁺- and Ne⁺-projectiles with He at impact energies between 90 keV and 800 keV were investigated. Relative excitation cross sections for magnetic sublevels of He—4¹ D were determined using level-crossing techniques. Absolute excitation cross sections σ _m of the Zeeman-sublevels are given using He—4¹ D cross sections from earlier measurements. The results show strong variations of the cross sections σ₀ and σ_±1 with a quasi-oscillatory behaviour. σ_±2 is much smaller than σ₀ and σ_±1.     

Collision spectroscopy with aligned and oriented atoms

Electron capture processes in the H⁺?Na(3s) and H⁺?Na(3p) collisions are experimentally investigated in the 0.3–3 keV energy range using a crossed beam experiment. The excited Na(3p) target is produced with a well-defined alignment using laser pumping. The time of flight technique enables the identification of all the H(n)+Na⁺ channels populated in the collision. Total cross section ratios σ_3p (n=2)/σ_3s (n=2),σ_3p (n=3)/σ_3s (n=2) and σ_3s (n=3)/σ_3s (n=2) for the production of H(n=2) and H(n=3) are measured in the H⁺?Na (3s) and H⁺?Na (3p) collisions. They reveal a strong dominance of the production of H(n=2) in the H⁺?Na(3p) collision, especially for energies below 1 keV.     

Molecular view of charge exchange in ion–C60 collisions

We present a theoretical study of charge transfer in H⁺+C₆₀ and He²⁺+C₆₀ collisions using an extension of the molecular time‐dependent method of ion–atom collisions. Energy‐correlation diagrams have been evaluated for the corresponding (C₆₀–H)⁺ and (C₆₀–He)²⁺ quasi‐molecules. Single and double charge‐transfer cross sections in C₆₀+He²⁺ collisions are reported for the first time. The results show that double charge‐transfer cross sections are only one order of magnitude smaller than single charge‐transfer cross sections. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2001     

Dissociation of hydrogen molecules in collisions with light alkali ions. II. Li+-H2

The dissociation of a ground state H₂ molecule in single collisions with a Li⁺ ion has been studied using a time of flight technique over a large range of center of mass scattering angles (30° ? υ ? 180°) and collision energies (16 eV < E_cm < 55.5 ev).The results have been transformed into the center of mass system to obtain inelastic differential cross sections (contour maps). In contrast to most other scattering experiments on collision induced dissociation, the results at high energies (E_cm > 40 eV) cannot be explained by a two-step mechanism. Instead dissociation appears to occur in a time comparable to the collision time. The results are consistent with several collision models. Of these the spectator model in which only one of the atoms of the molecule is struck by the incident ion is favored since it is in good agreement with the differential cross sections for backward scattering.     

Calculation of Ionization,Excitation and Electron Capture Cross Sections for Be4++H(2s, 2p) Collisions

A computational study of Be⁴⁺+H(2s, 2p) collisions has been carried out employing the Classical Trajectory Monte Carlo (CTMC) method for the impact energy range from 20 keV/u to 1000 keV/u. The integral n partial cross sections for H(n) excitation and Be³⁺(n) electron capture and, the total ionization and electron capture cross sections are calculated and compared to recent semiclassical results. A general good agreement is observed for the n partial and total electron capture and ionization cross sections. The comparative study of the three inelastic processes show no significant differences between both excited targets.     

A systematic investigation of ionization occurring in few electron collision systems: H0, He0 impact on He

Absolute doubly differential cross sections for electron emission occurring in fast (0.5 MeV/amu) H⁰ — and He⁰ — He collisions have been measured using standard non-coincidence techniques as well as emitted electron — charge state analysed projectile coincidence techniques. The comparison of these data with results obtained for H⁺ and He⁺ impact provides insight into the influence of one or two loosely bound projectile electrons on the probabilities for projectile, target, and simultaneous projectile — target ionization. PWBA calculations for these systems demonstrate good agreement with the experimental data for target and projectile ionization and indicate the importance of including simultaneous ionization processes in the theoretical treatment.     

Vibrational excitation of SF6 in collisions with He atoms

Vibrational excitation of SF₆ molecules in collisions with He atoms is studied using a vibrational close-coupling, rotational infinite-order-sudden method of calculation. Integral and differential cross sections for excitation of the triply degenerate ν₆ and ν₅ vibrational modes of SF₆ are reported for thermal collisional energies. Excitation of the ν₆ mode is found to be particularly efficieny. The cross sections are much larger than those calculated previously for the excitation of the bending mode in the He + CO₂ system. The differential cross sections are backward peaked.     

Fully converged sudden rotation total integral cross sections for 4He + H2 (ν = 0, j = 0) → 4He + H2 (ν′ = 1, j′)

Total integral cross sections for ⁴He + H₂ (ν = 0, j = 0) → ⁴He + H₂ (ν′ = 1, j′ = 0, 2) have been calculated in the total energy range 1.2 to 5.5 eV, according to a quantal sudden approximation for the H₂ rotational degrees of freedom and a close coupling expansion of the vibrational degree of freedom. Convergence of the above cross sections is investigated by employing four vibration basis sets in the close coupling calculations, i.e., ν = 0,1, ν = 0,1, 2, ν = 0, 1, 2, 3 and ν = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4. Between 4.2 and 5.5 eV calculations were done with three vibration basis sets; ν = 0.–4, ν = 0–5, and ν = 0–6. It is found that at least four vibrational basis functions are needed to converge (to within 5–10%) these cross sections in the above energy range. Comparison of breathing sphere calculations and summed sudden rotation results shows good agreement for the (weakly anisotropic) Mies-Krauss potential. However, as expected the former results underestimate the vibrational 0 → 1 total integral cross sections.