State changing in Rb (ns,np,nd)-Xe collisions

This paper reports a study of collisions between Rb atoms in $\mathrm{ns}$, $\mathrm{np}$, and $\mathrm{nd}$ states ($27<~n<~70$) and Xe. The experimental data show that collisions result in transitions from the initial level to states in adjacent high-$l$ manifolds and that, at the lower values of $n$, there are significant differences in the cross sections for such state-changing processes for $\mathrm{ns}$, $\mathrm{np}$, and $\mathrm{nd}$ states. These differences are discussed with reference to the amount of energy transfer in the collisions, and the data are compared with recent Born-approximation calculations.