Magnetic field enhancement of dielectronic recombination from a continuum of finite bandwidth

Abstract

We report the results of a study of the effects of combined electric and magnetic fields on dielectronic recombination (DR) from a continuum of finite bandwidth. Specifically, we have examined the process $\mathrm{Ba}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}6{p}_{3∕2}8g\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\mathrm{Ba}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}6{p}_{1∕2}nk\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\mathrm{Ba}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}6{s}_{1∕2}nk+h\ensuremath{\nu}$ in the presence of electric fields from $0\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{to}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}7\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{V}∕\mathrm{cm}$ and magnetic fields from $0\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{to}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}250\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{G}$. Our observations elucidate the requirements for magnetic field enhancement of the DR rate. In particular, they demonstrate that the magnetic coupling must be comparable not only to the electric field splitting of the intermediate autoionizing Rydberg states, but also to their decay rates.