Dipole scattering of a short radiation pulse on hydrogen-like atoms

Abstract

Our theoretical model of forced dipole oscillation demonstrates that when the amplitude of the forcing field is changing fast, the oscillations of the bound electron in the atom or molecule initially proceed at two frequencies: the frequency of the natural electron oscillations and the frequency of the forcing field. Particularly, applied to the science of scattering, this model of transient forced atomic and molecular oscillations suggests that accurate interpretation of the laser scattering experiments using short laser pulses must include both the conventionally known scattering at the laser frequency (Rayleigh) and the predicted by our theoretical spectral emission that corresponds to the natural frequency of the electronic oscillations. This article presents the results of numerical simulations using our model performed for the hydrogen atom. The characteristics of the components of scattered radiation, their polarization, and Doppler thermal broadening are discussed.