Spin-Exchange Scattering in Uniform Magnetic Fields

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Abstract
The role of a uniform magnetic field in the collision of two one-electron atoms is analyzed using previously developed density-matrix techniques. During the collision, all magnetic-moment interactions are small compared to the usual singlet and triplet potentials, and the only effect of the magnetic field is to alter the asymptotic states. This effect may be described in terms of the unitary transformation which diagonalizes the Breit-Rabi Hamiltonian. The properties of this transformation are given in detail for electronic spin ½ and arbitrary nuclear spin. In addition to presenting a general formulation for this scattering problem, explicit formulas are given for spin exchange in the scattering of polarized beams from unpolarized targets.

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