Dependence of the differential cross sections for radiative-collisional excitation of metastable atomic states on the polarization of radiation

Abstract

We calculate the total and differential cross sections for radiative-collisional excitation of the metastable 21 S state of He atoms at collisions with Ne atoms in external radiation fields of various frequencies and polarizations. The calculations are performed for a thermal collision energy of E = 10−3 atomic units and light intensity of I = 1 MW cm−2, which corresponds to a single photon absorption by a quasi-molecule during the collision. Both the differential and total cross sections are shown to depend strongly on the relative orientation of the radiation polarization vector and the initial relative velocity vector of the colliding atoms. We analyze the azimuthal scattering asymmetry related to the orientation of the angular momentum of the absorbed photon.