Electronic excitation of Ar atoms to metastable states and from metastable to higher states

The formation of the metastable states 3p ⁵4s of the Ar atom by an electron impact and the electronic excitation from these states to the higher levels 3p ⁵4p ArI are investigated in detail. The electronic excitation cross sections are determined based on a previously proposed approach to generalization of experimental and theoretical results. The method proposed consists in interpolation over the entire set of cross sections for each of the investigated levels of the Ar atom (measured by us previously or taken from the literature) using the four-parameter approximation of the dependences of the cross sections on the energy of incident electrons.     

Stochastic theory of metastable states and nucleation

We study on a model the role of fluctuations size in the nucleation of a first order phase transition. A bifurcation point exists between metastable and stable equilibrium solutions for a critical value of fluctuations size.     

Role of metastable atoms and molecules of helium in excitation transfer to hydrogen atoms

The afterglow of a discharge in helium with a small admixture of hydrogen is studied spectroscopically (p=40 Torr, [e]≤10¹¹ cm^?3). The time-resolved measurements of intensities of the first four lines of the Balmer series are performed. The concentrations of metastable helium atoms and molecules are evaluated from the relative intensity of the absorption lines. The ratios of excitation transfer rates from atoms He(2 ³ S ₁) k ₁(n) and molecules of helium He₂(a 2sσ ³Σ _u ⁺ ) k ₂(n) to atomic hydrogen H*(n) are measured to be k ₁(n=3)/k ₂(n=3)=0.04±0.02 and k ₁(n=4)/k ₂(n=4)=0.01±0.02. The ratios of excitation rate constants k ₂(n) corresponding to different states H(n) are measured to be k ₁(n=4)/k ₂(n=3)=0.023±0.01; k ₁(n=5)/k ₂(n=3)≤0.013; and k ₁(n=6)/k ₂(n=3)≤0.007.     

Formation of metastable molecular states at the resonance scattering of two atoms in a laser radiation field

Using the Dirac’s method, the formation of metastable molecular states at the resonance scattering of two atoms in the laser radiation field is considered. Expressions for the metastable level populations and the resonance scattering cross sections are obtained. In the case of an exact resonance with the laser radiation, the graphs for populations and resonance scattering cross sections, which have two peaks due to the Autler–Townes effect, are obtained. These results play an important role in the study of the controlled chemical reaction and for the understanding of the processes in the quantum systems of the Bose–Einstein condensate at low temperatures, as well as in the various optical processes in atomic gases.     

Double ionization and excitation ionization in the Compton scattering of high-energy photons for metastable states of heliumlike ions

Double ionization and excitation ionization in Compton scattering for heliumlike ions in metastable states are investigated. The electron energy distribution for double ionization and the total cross sections for both processes are calculated. The calculations are carried out in the zeroth order of perturbation theory with respect to electron-electron interaction, using Coulomb wave functions as the first approximation. The resulting equations are valid only in the high-energy nonrelativistic range. It is assumed that Z≫1, but αZ≪1 (Z is the charge of the nucleus, and α is the fine-structure constant). Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 1889–1902 (December 1999)     

Dependence of the differential cross sections for radiative-collisional excitation of metastable atomic states on the polarization of radiation

We calculate the total and differential cross sections for radiative-collisional excitation of the metastable 2¹S state of He atoms at collisions with Ne atoms in external radiation fields of various frequencies and polarizations. The calculations are performed for a thermal collision energy of E = 10^?3 atomic units and light intensity of I = 1 MW cm^?2, which corresponds to a single photon absorption by a quasi-molecule during the collision. Both the differential and total cross sections are shown to depend strongly on the relative orientation of the radiation polarization vector and the initial relative velocity vector of the colliding atoms. We analyze the azimuthal scattering asymmetry related to the orientation of the angular momentum of the absorbed photon.     

Collisional quenching of metastable states of antiprotonic helium by hydrogen and deuterium molecules

The quenching of metastable states of antiprotonic helium by collisions with hydrogen and deuterium molecules was studied. A systematic investigation of the delayed annihilation time spectra at various H₂ and D₂ admixture ratios at the ppm level revealed characteristic changes of their shape, which indicated a strong principal and orbital quantum number dependent quenching of levels in both cases. Applying a laser spectroscopy technique to measure the lifetimes of individual states and cascades we deduced H₂ and D₂ quenching cross-sections for the states (n, l )= (39, 35) and (37, 34). These cross-sections establish for D₂ molecules the strong increase of the quenching efficiency with increasing principal quantum number n of the state under investigation previously reported for the case of H₂ admixtures. Our experiments indicate that the low-n state (37, 34) is somewhat less affected by D₂ than by H₂, while the high-n state (39, 35) is equally quenched by both isotopes. Received 2 October 2000     

Decay rates of the metastable states of one-electron atoms and of the 2S-states of muonic atoms

Recoil corrections are calculated for atomic hyperfine transitions and 2S-1S transitions. Large effects are found for muonic atoms.     

Radiative properties of scattering and absorbing dense media: theory and experimental study

We investigate the validity of the radiative transfer equation to model transmission of light through an absorbing and scattering medium. Assuming that radiative transfer equation is valid, the inverse scattering problem for non-polarized radiative transfer in one-dimensional absorbing and scattering media is solved using a parameter identification method. We discuss how to identify the albedo, phase function and extinction coefficient of the medium. We present experimental data that confirm that this approach is robust and can be used to make reliable predictions of the behavior of scattering absorbing systems.     

The spectroscopic study of excitation and ionization in the collision of two metastable atoms

Collisions between two excited atoms leading to an increase in the excitation energy of the particles have been under investigation. All measurements were made in the afterglow of gas-discharge plasma. The cross sections of the following reactions have been determined: $\text{Hg}\text{(6}{}^3\text{P}{}_{012}\text{) +}\text{Hg}\text{(6}{}^3\text{P}{}_{012}\text{) →}\text{Hg}{}^7\text{+}\text{Hg}\text{(6}{}^1\text{S}{}_0\text{),}\text{He}{}_{\mathrm{m}}\text{(2}{}^{\mathrm{1,3}}\text{S}\text{) +}\text{Xe}{}_{\mathrm{m}}\text{(}{}^3\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{0,2}}\text{) → (}\text{Xe}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{)}{}^1\text{+}\text{He}{}_0\text{+}\text{e}$. The cross section of the first reaction for different transitions lies in the region (2?35) × 10^?15 cm² and the cross section of the second, in (0.2?2.4) × 10^?16 cm². Possible systematic errors and the role of cascade transitions are discussed. Cross sections of the Penning reaction He_m + Xe₀ → He₀ + Xe⁺ + e have also been measured. The result is σ (2³S) = (1.4 ± 0.2) × 10^?15 cm², σ (2¹S) = (1.2 ± 0.3) × 10^?15 cm².     

Electron collisions with laser cooled and trapped metastable helium atoms: total scattering cross sections

Absolute measurements of total scattering cross sections for low energy (5-70 eV) electrons by metastable helium (2(3)S) atoms are presented. The measurements are performed using a magneto-optical trap which is loaded from a laser-cooled, bright beam of slow He(2(3)S) atoms. The data are compared with predictions from convergent close coupling and R matrix with pseudostate calculations, and we find good agreement between experiment and theory.     

Chemi-ionization and spin exchange upon collisions of metastable helium atoms with potassium atoms in the ground state

The spin exchange and chemi-ionization cross sections have been calculated for the metastable helium atom-potassium atom system in the ground state. The data on the spin exchange cross section in the system He(2³ S ₁)-K(4² S _1/2) have been obtained for the first time. The cross sections were calculated for the collision energies ranging from 2 × 10^?4 to 60 × 10^?4 au The chemi-ionization cross sections obtained have been compared with the data in the literature.     

Accurate determination of the scattering length of metastable helium atoms using dark resonances between atoms and exotic molecules

We present a new measurement of the s-wave scattering length a of spin-polarized helium atoms in the 2(3)S1 metastable state. Using two-photon photoassociation spectroscopy and dark resonances, we measure the energy E(nu)=14= -91.35+/- 0.06 MHz of the least-bound state nu = 14 in the interaction potential of the two atoms. We deduce a value of a=7.512+/-0.005 nm, which is at least 100 times more precise than the best previous determinations and is in disagreement with some of them. This experiment also demonstrates the possibility to create exotic molecules binding two metastable atoms with a lifetime of the order of 1 micros.     

Electron scattering by atoms at intermediate energies: I. Theoretical models

The theoretical methods used in recent investigations of electron scattering by atoms at intermediate energies are outlined and their relative merits examined critically. Comparison with experiment is made in selected cases.     

Symmetric scattering in electron and positron impact ionization of metastable 2s-state hydrogen atoms

Triple differential cross sections for ionization of hydrogen atoms in the metastable 2s-state by the impact of electrons and positrons have been calculated for coplanar symmetric geometry. In this calculation a multiple scattering theory due to Das [10] and Das and Seal [11] has been used. An analysis of the results reveals that unlike scattering from the ground state, scattering from 2s-state is essentially a higher order process except for the binary collision direction. Moreover, here, the cross section results for 2s-state are much larger compared to those for scattering from the ground state. It is also found that the ionization mechanism at large scattering angles for ionization from the 2s-state is different from that for ionization from the ground state.     

Tilt-invariant theory of rough-surface scattering: I

Abstract

The small-slope approximation (SSA) in rough-surface scattering theory uses the surface slope as a small parameter of expansion. But, from the physical point of view, the slope may not be a restrictive parameter because we can change the slope of a surface simply by tilting the coordinate system. We present the theory of rough-surface scattering in a coordinate-invariant form. The new method, tilt-invariant approximation (TIA), leads to a different expansion that does not require that the slope of a surface be small. For a small Rayleigh parameter this approximate solution provides the correct perturbation theory, for a large Rayleigh parameter it provides the Kirchhoff approximation with several correcting terms.     

Tilt-invariant theory of rough-surface scattering: I

The small-slope approximation (SSA) in rough-surface scattering theory uses the surface slope as a small parameter of expansion. But, from the physical point of view, the slope may not be a restrictive parameter because we can change the slope of a surface simply by tilting the coordinate system. We present the theory of rough-surface scattering in a coordinate-invariant form. The new method, tilt-invariant approximation (TIA), leads to a different expansion that does not require that the slope of a surface be small. For a small Rayleigh parameter this approximate solution provides the correct perturbation theory, for a large Rayleigh parameter it provides the Kirchhoff approximation with several correcting terms.     

Z-dependent theory of many electron atoms. I. SimplestS-sums

Simplest possibleS-sums 〈p, α ¦q, Β〉 _kl occuring in the second orderZ-dependent theory of many-electron atoms, are defined by Eq. (7) of the text. 〈l, α ¦l, Β〉 _kl are written in closed form for positiveα, Β andl integer ≧0; 〈p, α ¦q, Β〉 _kl for integerp>l,q>l can be reached by means of recurrence relations. The new method is demonstrated and tested on examples previously calculated in the literature.     

A phenomenological theory of light scattering by surfaces: I. General theory

A phenomenological theory of light scattering by surfaces is presented. The differential intensity of the scattered light is found in terms of autocorrelation functions characteristic for the distribution of matter in the surface layer. Local field factors are found.     

Non-unitary scattering and capture. I. Hilbert space theory

By carrying out a general analysis of properties of the wave operators for the non-unitary scattering theory which arises in connection with the use of complex optical potentials in nuclear scattering and elsewhere, we clarify some puzzling differences between two recent approaches to this subject.