Collisional ionization and destruction cross sections for hydrogen and helium Rydberg atoms on Ar, Xe, and N[sub 2]: Failure of the independent-particle model

Journal Article · Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Physical Review A; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.47.1907· OSTI ID:6941349

Renwick, S P; Deng, F; Martinez, H; Morgan, T J ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut 06459 (United States)

Absolute cross sections for the collisional ionization and the total destruction of hydrogen and helium atoms in low-lying Rydberg states colliding with Ar, Xe, and N[sub 2] have been measured over the energy range from 1.0 to 30 keV/amu. The independent-particle model fails to explain the behavior of the Rydberg atom's outer electron in ionization collisions below 3 keV/amu for He (12[le][ital n][le]15) on Xe and N[sub 2], but not on Ar. This represents an observation of the model's failure in collisions of Rydberg atoms with neutral perturbers in this energy range and shows that at low energies, where a molecular picture of the core-target scattering is valid, the Rydberg electron is sensitive to details of the molecular interactions between the target and the Rydberg atom's core.

• OSTI ID: 6941349
• Journal Information: Physical Review A; (United States), Vol. 47:3; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
HELIUM
ATOM-ATOM COLLISIONS
ATOM-MOLECULE COLLISIONS
HYDROGEN
NITROGEN
XENON
CROSS SECTIONS
DE-EXCITATION
IONIZATION
KEV RANGE 01-10
RARE GASES
RYDBERG STATES
ATOM COLLISIONS
COLLISIONS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY LEVELS
ENERGY RANGE
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
EXCITED STATES
FLUIDS
GASES
KEV RANGE
MOLECULE COLLISIONS
NONMETALS
664300* - Atomic & Molecular Physics- Collision Phenomena- (1992-)