Broadening and shift of Rydberg levels by elastic collisions with rare-gas atoms

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Abstract
The author obtains expressions for Rydberg level broadening and shift cross sections and rates suitable for elastic collisions of ground-state rare-gas atoms with Rydberg atoms. The semiclassical impact broadening theory is used. The interaction of a Rydberg atom with a rare-gas atom is approximated by the superposition of polarisation potentials and the Fermi pseudopotential. It is shown that similar expressions for the broadening and shift cross sections due to the perturber-Rydberg-electron interaction can be obtained in the JWKB approximation for the Rydberg-electron wavefunctions and for the square-well model potential. Consequently the shift and width of the Rydberg level are not very sensitive to the shape of the potential but only to its normalisation. Expressions for the shift and width in the square-well potential approximation suitable in the high-density limit of the perturbing atoms are obtained. Limits of the applicability of the expressions for the broadening and shift cross sections are discussed. Calculated broadening and shift rates agree well with experimental results for the broadening and shift of Rydberg levels with small, medium and large principal quantum numbers by all rare gases excepting neon.