Excitation of helium atoms in collisions with plasma electrons in an electric field

The rate constants are evaluated for excitation of helium atoms in metastable states by electron impact if ionized helium is located in an external electric field and is supported by it, such that a typical electron energy is small compared to the atomic excitation energy. Under these conditions, atomic excitation is determined both by the electron traveling in the space of electron energies toward the excitation threshold and by the subsequent atomic excitation, which is a self-consistent process because it leads to a sharp decrease in the energy distribution function of electrons, which in turn determines the excitation rate. The excitation rate constant is calculated for the regimes of low and high electron densities, and in the last case, it is small compared to the equilibrium rate constant where the Maxwell distribution function is realized including its tail. Quenching of metastable atomic states by electron impact results in excitation of higher excited states, rather than transition to the ground electron state for the electric field strengths under consideration. Therefore, at restricted electron number densities, the rate of emission of resonant photons of the wavelength 58 nm, which results from the transition from the 2¹ P state of the helium atom to the ground state, is close to the excitation rate of metastable atomic states. The efficiency of atomic excitation in ionized helium, i.e., the part of energy of an electric field injected in ionized helium that is spent on atomic excitation, is evaluated. The results exhibit the importance of electron kinetics for an ionized gas located in an electric field.     

Measurement of the hyperfine structure of antiprotonic helium

This paper discusses the level splitting of the antiprotonic helium atomcule, an exotic atom consisting of a helium nucleus, an electron, and an antiproton which occupies highly excited states with angular momentum of L ≈ 30–35. The observation of a splitting in a laser transition between two levels is presented, and an experiment in preparation at the forthcoming AD facility at CERN is described which aims at directly measuring the level splitting by using a 2-laser microwave triple resonance technique. This experiment has the potential to determine the magnetic moment of the antiproton with higher precision than currently known. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Transition from strong-field sequential to nonsequential double ionization at near-infrared wavelengths and low intensities

Within a quantum-mechanical model, we investigate strong-field double ionization of a model helium atom by near-infrared, linearly polarized laser pulses at intensities far below the recollision threshold. The quantum simulations show a clear mechanism change from sequential to nonsequential double ionization (NSDI) as the laser intensity increases. For NSDI, the two-electron correlated momentum distribution exhibits a strong final-state Coulomb repulsion effect for high-energy photoelectrons, but absent for low-energy photoelectrons. This repulsion effect is ascribed to field double ionization from doubly-excited states populated by recollision of the first ionized electron when it returns to the parent ion. Such recollision-induced excited states are absent at ultraviolet wavelengths due to the very low returning kinetic energies, resulting to the absence of final-state repulsion effect in NSDI.     

级联弧放电氦等离子体特性研究

采用另加偏压的单阴极弧氦放电直线等离子体装置对氦等离子体的基本特性进行了研究。对氦轴向输运规律做了描述并与光谱测量数据做了定性地比较。实验结果表明,氦等离子体的电子温度与电子密度均随放电电流、约束磁场的增加而增加。氦原子与氦离子的辐射光谱随放电电流、偏压、磁场的变化规律进行了测量分析,同时氦离子对钨靶积分辐照效应进行了观察。这些结果不但提供了氦等离子体的基本特性,对于研究氦离子与面向等离子材料相互作用导致产生气泡、肿胀、脆化损伤等的评估,特别是对将来伴有(n, α)反应时具有一定的参考价值。     

He原子掺杂铝材料的第一性原理研究

采用基于第一性原理的平面波超软赝势方法,结合广义梯度近似(GGA),计算了铝及铝晶胞间隙位置掺入He原子后体系的几何结构、电子结构、总体能量和电荷布居值.计算结果表明:随着氦在金属铝中逐渐形成,铝晶胞体系会发生晶格畸变,但总的趋势是He在铝体系的八面体位置的晶格畸变小于其在四面体位置的晶格畸变.He在铝晶胞八面体和四面体间隙的杂质形成能分别为1.3367 eV和2.4411 eV.由此可知,He在铝晶胞中最稳定位置是八面体间隙位置.同时,文中还从原子尺度层面分析了He原子在铝晶胞中的占位及其键合性质,讨论 关键词： 铝材料 第一性原理 形成能     

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采用另加偏压的单阴极弧氦放电直线等离子体装置对氦等离子体的基本特性进行了研究.对氦轴向输运规律做了描述并与光谱测量数据做了定性地比较.实验结果表明,氦等离子体的电子温度与电子密度均随放电电流、约束磁场的增加而增加.氦原子与氦离子的辐射光谱随放电电流、偏压、磁场的变化规律进行了测量分析,同时氦离子对钨靶积分辐照效应进行了观察.这些结果不但提供了氦等离子体的基本特性,对于研究氦离子与面向等离子材料相互作用导致产生气泡、肿胀、脆化损伤等的评估,特别是对将来伴有(n,α)反应时具有一定的参考价值.     

Negative ions in liquid helium: Existence of new bound states

It is shown that fundamentally new bound states can be formed when a foreign negative ion is embedded in liquid helium. For such states the excess electron forms a bubble with a radius R ₀≃17–18 Å, and a foreign neutral atom is trapped inside this bubble because of the polarization interaction with the electric field of the excess electron, which has a maximum at a point r≃R ₀/2. The main properties of such structures are considered. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 6, 454–458 (25 March 1997) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by James Anderson and Steve Torstveit.     

大气压低温氦等离子体射流的诊断研究

为了加快低温氦气等离子体射流的工程化进程,通过自主设计的同轴式介质阻挡放电等离子体射流发生器,在放电频率10 kHz,一个大气压条件下产生了稳定的氦气等离子体射流。通过分析不同工况下的电压电流波形可以发现单纯增加氦气体积流量只能小幅的增加电流脉冲幅值,而对放电时间、电流脉冲数的影响不大。增加放电峰值电压时电流脉冲幅值会得到较大幅度增加。通过发射光谱法对大气压氦气等离子射流的活性粒子种类、电子激发温度、电子密度进行了诊断。结果表明,大气压氦气等离子体射流中的主要活性粒子为He Ⅰ原子、N₂第二正带系、N+₂的第一负带系、羟基（OH）,H原子的巴尔末线系（H_α和H_β）与O原子,这表明虽然该试验中使用的氦气纯度已达99.99%,但其中仍残留有少量的空气,同时放电时大气中的空气会被卷吸到放电空间发生电离。还可以发现,主要活性粒子的相对光谱强度随氦气体积流量的增加及放电峰值电压的增大均呈现上涨的趋势。选用He Ⅰ原子的四条谱线对不同试验工况下的电子激发温度进行了计算,得到大气压氦气等离子体射流的电子激发温度在3 500~6 300 K之间,电子激发温度随放电峰值电压与氦气体积流量的增大总体上呈现上升的趋势。但由于反向电场的存在,某些峰值电压可能会出现电子激发温度下降的情况;根据Stark展宽原理对大气压氦气等离子体射流的电子密度进行了计算,发现电子密度的数量级可达1015 cm-3,同时增大峰值电压与氦气体积流量均可有效的提高射流中的电子密度。这些参数的研究对氦气等离子体射流在工程实际中的应用具有重要意义。     

两束同色激光场和中红外场驱动氦原子在等离激元中产生的单个阿秒脉冲

通过数值求解一维氦原子由两束同色激光场和中红外形成组合场中的含时薛定谔方程,研究了氦原子在纳米等离激元中发射高次谐波的性质以及合成阿秒脉冲的特点.研究表明,在等离激元中氦原子在组合场驱动下发射的高次谐波相对于均匀场情况下截止位置会得到明显扩展,但等离激元对处在连续态电子的吸收效应会对高次谐波截止位置影响较大,通过改变激元的相对位置能明显提高其中一个轨道对谐波的贡献,抑制另一些电子轨道的贡献.经典分析表明,两个电子轨道发生并合,从而实现单个阿秒脉冲的输出.与原子在均匀场驱动的情况相比,阿秒脉冲的宽度明显缩短,最短可实现28 as的单个脉冲输出.     

Preparation of cluster states with trapped electrons on a liquid helium surface

We present a scheme for the preparation of one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) cluster states with electrons trapped on a liquid helium surface and driven by a classical laser beam. The two lowest levels of the vertical motion of the electron act as a two-level system, and the quantized vibration of the electron along one of the parallel directions (the x direction) serves as the bosonic mode. The degrees of freedom of the vertical and parallel motions of the trapped electron can be coupled together by a classical laser field. With the proper frequency of the laser field, the cluster states can be realized.     

Negative ions Ar<Superscript>−</Superscript>, Kr<Superscript>−</Superscript>, and Xe<Superscript>−</Superscript> in superfluid helium

The catalogue of negative ions in superfluid helium has been extended using the example of Ar⁻, Kr⁻, and Xe⁻. Such objects cannot exist in vacuum, since the polarization attraction of an electron to the inert A atom is insufficient for the formation of the bound state A⁻. However, these objects exist in helium as stable or metastable with a very long lifetime. The effect is due to the electron localization in liquid helium. If a mixture of excited A* atoms and electrons is prepared in the gas phase above liquid helium, the reaction A* + e = A*⁻ becomes possible for all atoms of the periodic table. Such charges can be immersed into liquid helium by the electric field. In this case, the radiative decay A*⁻ = A + e allowed in vacuum can be forbidden in liquid. This leads to the formation of the new unique objects A⁻, which can exist in liquid helium but are absent in nature. The size of such charged formations has been determined and is close the radius of a usual electron bubble in helium.     

Surface dependence of field ion energy distributions,He on W

Kinetic energy distributions of helium ions produced by field ionization above the (100), (110), and (111) planes of tungsten field emitters are reported. The energy resolution of these measurements if 0.3 eV fwhm. The main peak of these distributions is found to shift by as much as 0.7 eV at $\text{F = 5.3 V/}\text{A}\text{?}$, T = 21 K, when the origin of the ions collected is changed slightly. Several possible explanations for this shift are discussed. The most plausible of these involves electron tunneling through a field adsorbed helium atom. These results have important implications for the use of field ion energy distributions as a probe of the density of electronic states of the emitter.     

Stability of coherent states of a Bose gas of two-level atoms in resonant laser field at zero temperature

It is shown that a two-level atom Bose gas in a strong resonant laser field at zero temperature is a mixture of two condensates with a certain density ratio. The stability criteria for stationary states of such a system relative to the increase in the amplitudes of quasi-Bogolyubov elementary excitations of the Bose gas are formulated. It is shown that, in addition to conventional acoustic mode, a mode gap exists with a gap proportional to the laser field amplitude. Under certain conditions, deviations from ideality of the gas may lead to instability and decomposition of the condensate.     

Low-frequency strong-field ionization and excitation of hydrogen atom

The dynamics of hydrogen atom in the presence of a strong radiation field of the titanium-sapphire laser is studied for the Keldysh parameters γ ≥ 1 and γ ≤ 1. It is demonstrated that the ionization is supplemented with the effective population of the excited states with the principal quantum numbers n = 5–10 in the entire range of variation in the Keldysh parameter. The population of the excited Rydberg states can be interpreted as a consequence of the multiphoton resonance involving the initial 1s state and a group of excited states in the vicinity of the continuum boundary with the simultaneous repopulation of these states by Λ-type Raman transitions under the action of the laser field. The resulting coherent Rydberg packet appears to be stable with respect to ionization, so that the ionization of the atomic system in the presence of strong electromagnetic field is suppressed. Physical reasons for the stabilization are discussed. An interpretation of the effective population of the Rydberg states in the recent experiments on the ionization of atomic helium by the titanium-sapphire laser is proposed.     

Electron Temperatures and Electron Densities in Microwave Helium Discharges with Pressures Higher than 0.1 MPa

We adopted laser Thomson scattering for measuring the electron density and the electron temperature of microwave plasmas produced in helium at the pressures higher than the atmospheric pressure. The electron density decreased while we observed the increase in the electron temperature with the pressure. These are reasonable results by considering the decrease in the reduced electric field, the dominant loss of electrons via three‐body recombination with helium as the third body, and the production of electrons with medium energy via heavy particle collisions at the high gas pressure. The temporal variation of the electron temperature had the rise and the fall time constants of approximately 10 ns. The rapid heating and cooling of the electron temperature are due to the fast energy transfer from electrons to helium because of the high collision frequency in the high‐pressure discharge. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Polarisation effect of laser field in inelastic electron - hydrogen collisions

We study the influence of the laser polarization on the electron impact excitation of atomic hydrogen. Our method takes into account the “dressing” of the target states by including the laser-atom interaction to first order time-dependent perturbation theory, while the interaction of the laser field with the incident electron is treated to all orders by using the non relativist Volkov function. The interaction of the fast projectile with the target atom is treated in the first Born approximation. The calculations are performed via two distinct computations. The first one is based on a direct calculation, the second based on a Sturmian approach. Important differences appear between the angular distributions depending on the polarization chosen. Received : 17 february 1998 / Revised : 20 july 1998 / Accepted : 2 september 1998     

Analysis of the time-domain spectrum of hydrogen in electric field near helium surface

The Ryderberg electronic wave packet dynamics of hydrogen atom near helium surface in an electric field is investigated using the semiclassical method.The autocorrelation function is calculated when the photoionized electron is excited by a short laser pulse for different atom-surface separations.The results show that new recurrences appear because of the helium surface,and the number of recurrent peaks increases with the decrease in atom-surface distance.The new feature is ascribed to the bifurcation of new closed orbits in the classical dynamics of the photoionized electron.Therefore,surface properties have a significant effect on the spectrum of nearby atoms or ions.     

Formation of two-dimensional current sheets under high initial pressure conditions

The possibilities of current-sheet formation in two-dimensional magnetic fields with a null line as well as the characteristic features of the plasma dynamics under high initial pressure conditions (helium, P ₀≈300 mtorr) are investigated for the first time. It is shown that current-sheet formation and efficient compression of the plasma into a sheet require that the magnetic field gradient be sufficiently large. A brightly emitting compact region with electron density N _e∼9×10¹⁶ cm⁻³, an order of magnitude higher than the gas atom density, was observed to form at the center of the layer. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 114, 1202–1214 (October 1998)     

Investigations on ionic processes and dynamics in the sheath region of helium and hydrogen discharges by laser spectroscopic electric field measurements

Temporally and spatially resolved measurements of the electric field distribution in the sheath region of RF and dc discharges provide a detailed insight into the sheath and ion dynamics. The electric field is directly related to the sheath ion and electron densities, the sheath voltage, and the displacement current density. Under certain assumptions also the electron and ion conduction current densities at the electrode, the ion current density into the sheath from the plasma bulk, the ion energy distribution function, and the power dissipated in the discharge can be inferred. Furthermore, the electric field distribution can give an indication of the collision-induced conversion between different ion species in the sheath. Laser spectroscopic techniques allow the noninvasive in situ measurement of the electric field with high spatial and temporal resolution. These techniques are based on the spectroscopic measurement of the Stark splitting of Rydberg states of helium and hydrogen atoms. Two alternative techniques are applied to RF discharges at 13.56 MHz in helium and hydrogen and a pulsed dc discharge in hydrogen. The measured electric field profiles are analyzed, and the results discussed with respect to the ion densities, currents, energies, temporal dynamics and species composition. Received: 26 July 2000 / Accepted: 12 December 2000 / Published online: 3 April 2001