Superelastic electron scattering from laser excited rubidium at 20 eV incident energy

Abstract

Superelastic electron scattering measurements are presented from rubidium atoms excited by laser radiation to the 5 2 P states at around 780 nm. The incident energy of the electrons was 18.4 eV corresponding to 20 eV incident electrons for the excitation process 5 2 S-5 2 P. The measurements were conducted over a range of scattering angles from 5 • through to 125 •. A complete set of atomic collision parameters for the interaction process is presented together with the associated pseudo-Stokes parameters obtained from the measurements. A comparison with three sophisticated theoretical models indicates that none of the models completely describes the interaction process at this energy, and that further experimental and theoretical work is needed.

Ionization of rubidium by50−eVelectrons

“…Similar high quality agreement was found with the data from superelastic electron scattering experiments with laser-excited lithium [7] and potassium [8]. However, the quality of the agreement has deteriorated somewhat when the target becomes as heavy as Rb [9]. The extension to ionization processes has been given initially by Bray and Fursa [10] and finalized recently by Bray [11].…”

Studies of Spin-Polarized Electron Scattering from Rubidium

“…Measurement of the collision parameters for inelastic scattering of unpolarized electrons from the heavier Rb [6] and Cs [7] also showed good agreement with the nonrelativistic CCC theory. This agreement was surprising as these targets were considered heavy enough to warrant a relativistic treatment.…”

Low energy super-elastic scattering studies of calcium over the complete angular range using a magnetic angle changing device

“…The disadvantage of the super-elastic technique is that the laser frequency must be resonant with an atomic transition which is coupled to the ground state of the target. Present day tuneable high-resolution laser systems can only access a limited number of atoms and so this restricts the technique to these targets [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Experiments have almost exclusively been conducted from atoms in an excited P-state due to this restriction, although there has been one set of data exciting the D-state of sodium from a laser prepared P-state using electrons [10].…”