Electronic Polarizabilities of the Alkali Atoms. II

Abstract

The electronic dipole polarizabilities ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{d}$ of the alkali atoms have been recalculated with the inclusion of the shielding effect of the ion core in the perturbation equations. The resulting values of ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{d}$ are close to those obtained in a previous calculation, and are also in very good agreement with the recent experimental values of Hall and Zorn. The dipole polarizabilities ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{d}$ of the ${\mathrm{Rb}}^{+}$ and ${\mathrm{Cs}}^{+}$ ions have been recalculated, using the appropriate Hartree-Fock wave functions (including exchange), which have recently become available. The resulting values of ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{d}({\mathrm{Rb}}^{+})$ and ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{d}({\mathrm{Cs}}^{+})$ are in much better agreement with experiment than those obtained in a previous calculation using Hartree wave functions (without exchange).