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Failure of conventional adiabatic criterion in case of excitation of helium atoms by helium ions
Ionization cross sections for neutral helium atoms on impact with helium, neon and nitrogen
Producing optical excitations by low energy ion atom and ion molecule collisions
Energy transfer in collisions of satellite-speed (7,000 m/sec) helium atoms with a cleaned 6061-T6 satellite-type aluminum surface was investigated using the molecular-beam technique. The amount of energy transferred was determined from the measured energy of the molecular-beam and the measured spatial and energy distributions of the reflected atoms. Spatial distributions of helium atoms scattered from a 6061-T6 aluminum surface were measured. The scattering pattern exhibits a prominent backscattering, probably due to the gross surface roughness and/or the relative lattice softness of the aluminum surface. Energy distributions of reflected helium atoms from the same surface were measured for six different incidence angles. For each incidence angle, distributions were measured at approximately sixty scattering positions. At a given scattering position, the energy spectra of the reflected helium atoms and the background gas were obtained using the retarding-field energy analyzer.
Interactions of satellite-speed helium atoms with practical satellite surfaces were investigated experimentally, and spatial distributions of satellite-speed helium beams scattered from four different engineering surfaces were measured. The 7000 m/sec helium beams were produced using an arc-heated supersonic molecular beam source. The test surfaces included cleaned 6061-T6 aluminum plate, anodized aluminum foil, white paint, and quartz surfaces. Both in-plane (in the plane containing the incident beam and the surface normal) and out-of-plane spatial distributions of reflected helium atoms were measured for six different incidence angles (0, 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 deg from the surface normal). It was found that a large fraction of the incident helium atoms were scattered back in the vicinity of the incoming beam, particularly in the case of glancing incidence angles. This unexpected scattering feature results perhaps from the gross roughness of these test surfaces. This prominent backscattering could yield drag coefficients which are higher than for surfaces with either forward-lobed or diffusive (cosine) scattering patterns.
Spatial and energy distributions of helium atoms scattered from an anodized 1235-0 aluminum surface as well as the tangential and normal momentum accommodation coefficients calculated from these distributions are reported. A procedure for calculating drag coefficients from measured values of spatial and energy distributions is given. The drag coefficient calculated for a 6061 T-6 aluminum sphere is included.
In this paper, the structure and dynamics of cleaved (001) surfaces of potassium tantalates doped with niobium, KTa 1-x Nb x O 3 (KTN), with x ranging from 0% to 30%, were measured by helium atom scattering (HAS). Through HAS time-of-flight (TOF) experiments, a dispersionless branch (Einstein phonon branch) with energy of 13-14meV was observed across the surface Brillouin zone in all samples. When this observation is combined with the results from earlier experimental and theoretical studies on these materials, a consistent picture of the stable surface structure emerges: After cleaving the single-crystal sample, the surface should be composed of equal areas of KO and TaO 2 /NbO 2 terraces. The data, however, suggest that K + and O 2- ions migrate from the bulk to the surface, forming a charged KO lattice that is neutralized primarily by additional K + ions bridging pairs of surface oxygens. This structural and dynamic modification at the (001) surface of KTN appears due to its formally charged KO(-1) and TaO 2 /NbO 2 (+1) layers and avoids a “polar catastrophe.” Finally, this behavior is contrasted with the (001) surface behavior of the fluoride perovskite KMnF 3 with its electrically neutral KF and MnF 2 layers.
Angular correlation in helium atom with electron- electron interaction
We report the first experimental study of the attachment of multiple foreign atoms to a cationic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). The chosen PAH was coronene, C{sub 24}H{sub 12}, which was added to liquid helium nanodroplets and then subjected to electron bombardment. Using mass spectrometry, coronene cations decorated with helium atoms were clearly seen and the spectrum shows peaks with anomalously high intensities (“magic number” peaks), which represent ion-helium complexes with added stability. The data suggest the formation of a rigid helium layer consisting of 38 helium atoms that completely cover both faces of the coronene ion. Additional magic numbers can be seen for the further addition of 3 and 6 helium atoms, which are thought to attach to the edge of the coronene. The observation of magic numbers for the addition of 38 and 44 helium atoms is in good agreement with a recent path integral Monte Carlo prediction for helium atoms on neutral coronene. An understanding of how atoms and molecules attach to PAH ions is important for a number of reasons including the potential role such complexes might play in the chemistry of the interstellar medium.
Ionization cross sections for helium and neon atoms and nitrogen molecules due to impact of helium atomic beam
Three major areas were experimentally studied: (1) energy transfer in collisions of satellite-speed (700 m/sec) helium atoms with a cleaned satellite-type aluminum surface was investigated using the molecular-beam technique. Spatial and energy distributions of reflected helium atoms were measured and analyzed, (2) The gross accommodation coefficient for a satellite-speed (7000 m/sec) helium beam entering a 2-inch-diameter aluminum spherical cavity was determined by measuring the exit velocity distribution of the leaving helium atoms using a metastable time-of-flight method. Results indicate that the 7000-m/sec satellite-speed helium atoms entering the cavity gain full accommodation with the room-temperature inner surface of the sphere through a large number of collisions before leaving the spherical cavity; and (3) the feasibility of producing a satellite-speed atomic hydrogen beam by arc-heating, for use in studies of interactions of satellite-surfaces with hydrogen atoms under laboratory conditions, was investigated. It was found that a stable arc-heated molecular hydrogen beam can be obtained using the arc-heater, and that a partially dissociated hydrogen beam can be produced. Photographs of laboratory equipment are shown.
We demonstrate the possibility of measuring the forbidden 2{sup 1}S{sub 0} – 2{sup 3}S{sub 1} transition frequency (λ = 1557 nm) of a helium atom by the method of stimulated Raman scattering through the intermediate 2{sup 3}P{sub 1} level. Singlet (2{sup 1}S{sub 0}) and triplet (2{sup 3}S{sub 1}) states have long lifetimes of 20 ms and 8000 s, respectively. The transition is important for the spectroscopy of the helium atom because it relates the singlet and triplet parts of the spectrum. (paper)
Zero energy positron elastic scattering by helium atoms
We analyze the ground state energy of helium atom confined by spherical impenetrable walls, and the role of the correlation energy in the total energy. The confinement of an atom in a cavity is one way in which we can model the effect of the external pressure on an atom. The calculations of energy of the system are carried out by the variational method. We find that the correlation energy remains almost constant for a range values of size of the boxes analyzed.
The rate constants are evaluated for excitation of helium atoms in metastable states by electron impact if ionized helium is located in an external electric field and is supported by it, such that a typical electron energy is small compared to the atomic excitation energy. Under these conditions, atomic excitation is determined both by the electron traveling in the space of electron energies toward the excitation threshold and by the subsequent atomic excitation, which is a self-consistent process because it leads to a sharp decrease in the energy distribution function of electrons, which in turn determines the excitation rate. The excitation rate constant is calculated for the regimes of low and high electron densities, and in the last case, it is small compared to the equilibrium rate constant where the Maxwell distribution function is realized including its tail. Quenching of metastable atomic states by electron impact results in excitation of higher excited states, rather than transition to the ground electron state for the electric field strengths under consideration. Therefore, at restricted electron number densities, the rate of emission of resonant photons of the wavelength 58 nm, which results from the transition from the 2{sup 1}P state of the helium atom to the ground state, is close to the excitation rate of metastable atomic states. The efficiency of atomic excitation in ionized helium, i.e., the part of energy of an electric field injected in ionized helium that is spent on atomic excitation, is evaluated. The results exhibit the importance of electron kinetics for an ionized gas located in an electric field.
The processes of collision quenching of the resonance 5s[3/2]{sub 1}{sup o}({sup 3}P{sub 1}) state of the krypton atom are studied by the absorption probe method in electron-beam-excited high-pressure He – Kr mixtures with a low content of krypton. The rate constants of plasmochemical reactions Kr* + Kr + He → Kr*{sub 2} + He [(4.21 ± 0.42) × 10{sup -33} cm{sup 6} s{sup -1}], Kr* + 2He → HeKr* + He [(4.5 ± 1.2) × 10{sup -36} cm{sup 6} s{sup -1}] and Kr* + He → products + He [(2.21 ± 0.22) × 10{sup -15} cm{sup 3} s{sup -1}] are measured for the first time. The rate constants of similar reactions are refined for krypton in the metastable 5s[3/2]{sub 2}{sup o} ({sup 3}P{sub 2}) state. (laser applications and other topics in quantum electronics)
In the present work, we present an investigation on quantum entanglement of the two-electron helium atom immersed in weakly coupled Debye plasmas, modeled by the Debye-Hückel, or screened Coulomb, potential to mimic the interaction between two charged particles inside the plasma. Quantum entanglement is related to correlation effects in a multi-particle system. In a bipartite system, a measurement made on one of the two entangled particles affects the outcome of the other particle, even if such two particles are far apart. Employing wave functions constructed with configuration interaction B-spline basis, we have quantified von Neumann entropy and linear entropy for a series of He {sup 1,3}S{sup e} and {sup 1,3}P{sup o} states in plasma-embedded helium atom.
A computational procedure for calculating correlated wave functions is proposed for three-particle systems interacting through Coulomb forces. Calculations are carried out for the muonic helium atom. Variational wave functions which explicitly contain interparticle coordinates are presented for the ground and excited states. General Hylleraas-type trial functions are used as the basis for the correlated wave functions. Excited-state energies of the muonic helium atom computed from 1- and 35-term wave functions are listed for four states.