Broadening of energy levels of Rydberg states with small orbital angular momenta in ions of group IIb by ambient thermal radiation

Abstract

We present the derivation of simple analytical expressions for calculating the widths of Rydberg states with small orbital angular momenta in Zn+, Cd+, Hg+ ions of group IIb of the periodic system of elements induced by blackbody radiation (BBR) at ambient temperatures from 100 to 3000 K. The probabilities of radiative transitions from excited nS, nP, nD and nF states to all dipole-accessible states of ions are calculated. The wave functions of the quantum defect (QD) method for the initial and final states of the Rydberg electron are used to calculate the amplitudes of transitions between bound states. The dependences of the probabilities of induced decays and excitations on the BBR temperature, the principal and orbital quantum numbers of the Rydberg ion are determined. Analytical expressions are derived for numerical estimates of the contributions of the probabilities of thermally induced decays and excitations to the width of the Rydberg energy level. The numerical values of the coefficients of interpolation polynomials representing asymptotic expansions in powers of the principal quantum number n for the relative probabilities of decays and excitations of Rydberg states with large values of n and small orbital angular momenta l = 0, 1, 2, 3 are calculated.