Atomic States (atomic + states)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


How correct is the EOS of weakly nonideal hydrogen plasmas?

CONTRIBUTIONS TO PLASMA PHYSICS, Issue 5-6 2003
A.N. Starostin
Abstract Helioseismology opens new possibility to check EOS of weakly nonideal hydrogen plasmas with high precision, using reconstructed local sound velocities within 10-4 accuracy. A comparison of different theoretical models with experiment permits to verify the existing methods of calculation bound states and continuum contribution to the second virial coefficient within the framework of physical nature. The regular way of the deduction expression for EOS is presented and generalization of the EOS for broad atomic states and two temperature non-equilibrium case is proposed. (© 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]


What really happens with the electron gas in the famous Franck-Hertz experiment?

CONTRIBUTIONS TO PLASMA PHYSICS, Issue 3-4 2003
F. Sigeneger
Abstract The interpretation of the anode current characteristics obtained in the famous Franck-Hertz experiment of 1914 led to the verification of Bohr's predictions of quantised atomic states. This fundamental experiment has been often repeated, and nowadays is generally part of the curriculum in modern physics education. However, the interpretation of the experiment is typically based upon significant simplifying assumptions, some quite unrealistic. This is the case especially in relation to the kinetics of the electron gas, which is in reality quite complex, due mainly to non-uniformities in the electric field, caused by a combination of accelerating and retarding components. This non-uniformity leads to a potential energy valley in which the electrons are trapped. The present state of understanding of such effects, and their influence upon the anode characteristics, is quite unsatisfactory. In this article a rigorous study of a cylindrical Franck-Hertz experiment is presented, using mercury vapour, the aim being to reveal and explain what really happens with the electrons under realistic experimental conditions. In particular, the anode current characteristics are investigated over a range of mercury vapour pressures appropriate to the experiment to clearly elaborate the effects of elastic collisions (ignored in typical discussions) on the power budget, and the trapping of electrons in the potential energy valley. [source]


Time asymmetry, nonexponential decay, and complex eigenvalues in the theory and computation of resonance states

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUANTUM CHEMISTRY, Issue 2 2002
Cleanthes A. Nicolaides
Abstract Stationary-state quantum mechanics presents no difficulties in defining and computing discrete excited states because they obey the rules established in the properties of Hilbert space. However, when this idealization has to be abandoned to formulate a theory of excited states dissipating into a continuous spectrum, the problem acquires additional interest in many fields of physics. In this article, the theory of resonances in the continuous spectrum is formulated as a problem of decaying states, whose treatment can entail time-dependent as well as energy-dependent theories. The author focuses on certain formal and computational issues and discusses their application to polyelectronic atomic states. It is argued that crucial to the theory is the understanding and computation of a multiparticle localized wavepacket, ,0, at t = 0, having a real energy E0. Assuming this as the origin, without memory of the excitation process, the author discusses aspects of time-dependent dynamics, for t , 0 as well as for t , ,, and the possible significance of nonexponential decay in the understanding of timeasymmetry. Also discussed is the origin of the complex eigenvalue Schrödinger equation (CESE) satisfied by resonance states and the state-specific methodology for its solution. The complex eigenvalue drives the decay exponentially, with a rate ,, to a good approximation. It is connected to E0 via analytic continuation of the complex self-energy function, A(z), (z is complex), into the second Riemann sheet, or, via the imposition of outgoing wave boundary conditions on the stationary state Schrödinger equation satisfied by the Fano standing wave superposition in the vicinity of E0. If the nondecay amplitude, G(t), is evaluated by inserting the unit operator I = ,dE|E>, then the resulting spectral function is real, g(E) =|<,0|E>|2, and does not differentiate between positive and negative times. The introduction of time asymmetry, which is associated with irreversibility, is achieved by starting from < ,0|,(t)e,iHt|,0 >, where ,(t) is the step function at the discontinuity point t = 0. In this case, the spectral function is complex. Within the range of validity of exponential decay, the complex spectral function is the same as the coefficient of ,0 in the theory of the CESE. A calculation of G(t) using the simple pole approximation and the constraints that t > 0 and E > 0 results in a nonexponential decay (NED) correction for t , 1/, that is different than when a real g(E) is used, representing the contribution of both "in" and "out" states. Earlier formal and computational work has shown that resonance states close to threshold are good candidates for NED to acquire nonnegligible magnitude. In this context, a pump-probe laser experiment in atomic physics is proposed, using as a paradigm the He, 1s2p24P shape resonance. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2002 [source]


Numerical simulations of photon trapping in doped photonic crystals doped with multi-level atoms

PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (C) - CURRENT TOPICS IN SOLID STATE PHYSICS, Issue 8 2005
Mahi R. Singh
Abstract A theory of photon trapping has been developed in photonic band-gap (PBG) and dispersive polaritonic band-gap (DPBG) materials doped with an ensemble of five-level atoms. These materials have gaps in their photon energy spectra. The atoms are prepared as coherent superpositions of the two lower states and interact with a reservoir and two photon fields. They also interact with each other by dipole-dipole interaction. The Schrödinger equation and the Laplace transform method are used to calculate the expressions for the number densities of the atomic states. Numerical simulations for a PBG material reveal that when the resonance energies lie away from the band edges and within the lower or upper bands, trapping is observed at certain values of the relative Rabi frequency associated with the two fields, which vary depending on the strength of the dipole-dipole interaction between the atoms. Also, if the photon fields are held constant, the population densities of the excited states of the atoms increase with increasing dipole-dipole interaction. These are very interesting phenomena. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]