Orientation effects in thermal collisions between ‘‘circular’’–Rydberg-state atoms and ground-state helium

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Abstract
A general formulation for thermal collisions between a Rydberg-state atom and a ground-state rare-gas atom is developed within the framework of the impulse approximation. This formulation allows calculation of cross sections for state-to-state transitions for an arbitrary initial orientation between the Rydberg-state atom and the relative velocity of the two partners of the collision. It also allows a direct computation of these cross sections averaged over all orientations, a situation corresponding to a cell experiment. In this formulation, the differential cross sections with respect to the modulus of the momentum transfer are obtained analytically in terms of rotation matrix elements. Numerical applications are made for the case of a sodium atom in a ‘‘circular’’ Rydberg state (‖n,l,m〉, with l=m=n-1) colliding with helium. The collisional processes are found to be highly anisotropic. In particular, a selection rule may appear, or disappear, depending upon the initial orientation. The extension to the case where an external electric field is present is also discussed, with special emphasis on symmetry properties.

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