Non-resonant elastic scattering of low-energy photons by atomic sodium confined in quantum plasmas
- Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur Howrah, 711 103, West Bengal (India)
The non-resonant elastic scattering of low-energy photons by the bound valence electron in the ground state 3s of atomic sodium confined in quantum plasmas is investigated theoretically. The incident photon energy is assumed to be much smaller than the 3s-3p excitation energy. The alkali atom sodium is first formulated as an effective one-electron problem in which the attractive interaction between the valence electron and the atomic ion core is simulated by a spherically symmetric model potential. The Shukla-Eliasson oscillatory exponential cosine screened-Coulomb potential model is then used to mimic the effective two-body (valence-core) interaction within quantum plasmas. Non-relativistic calculations performed within the electric dipole approximation indicate that the non-resonant elastic photon scattering cross-section undergoes a dramatic growth by several orders of magnitude as the quantum wave number increases. A qualitative explanation of this phenomenon is presented. In the absence of the oscillatory cosine screening term, a similar growth is observed at larger values of the quantum wave number. Our computed relevant atomic data are in very good agreement with the experimental as well as the previous theoretical data for the zero-screening (free atom) case, and with the very limited, accurate theoretical results available for the case of exponential screened-Coulomb two-body interaction, without the cosine screening term.
- OSTI ID:
- 22408219
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 3; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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