Helium alkali atoms

The atomic volumes of the alkali metals increase with atomic number, as do those of the inert gases. Notice, however, that the volume occupied by an alkali atom is somewhat larger than that of the adjacent inert gas (with the exception of the lithium and helium—helium is the cause of this anomaly). The sodium atom in sodium metal occupies 30% more volume than does neon. Cesium occupies close to twice the volume of xenon. 

Until recently there was no firm theoretical evidence that a positron could bind to any atom other than positronium it had been rigorously proved by Armour (1978, 1982) that it cannot bind to atomic hydrogen, and the evidence that it cannot bind to helium is overwhelming. The most likely candidates were the highly polarizable alkali atoms, and states of the positron-atom system below the positron-atom scattering threshold do indeed exist. However, they were all believed to lie above the threshold for positronium scattering by the corresponding positive ion, and were therefore not true bound states. 

Table 8 Spectral line shifts (in nm) of alkali atoms embedded in liquid helium. Experimental values are presented together with relativistic RLDA as well as other nonrelativistic (NR) results...

In the sodium atom pairs of 3/2 states result from the promotion of the 3s valence electron to any np orbital with n > 2. It is convenient to label the states with this value of n, as n P 1/2 and n f 3/2, the n label being helpful for states that arise when only one electron is promoted and the unpromoted electrons are either in filled orbitals or in an x orbital. The n label can be used, therefore, for hydrogen, the alkali metals, helium and the alkaline earths. In other atoms it is usual to precede the state symbols by the configuration of the electrons in unfilled orbitals, as in the 2p3p state of carbon. 

So far we have considered only hydrogen, helium, the alkali metals and the alkaline earth metals but the selection rules and general principles encountered can be extended quite straightforwardly to any other atom. 

Since the demonstration by Schumacher et al ) of the use of alkali metal vapor inclusion into a supersonic beam to produce clusters, there have been a number of attempts to generalize the approach. It has recently been recognized that instead of high temperature ovens, with their concommitant set of complex experimental problems, an intense pulsed laser beam focused on a target could be effectively used to produce metal atoms in the throat of a supersonic expansion valve. ) If these atoms are injected into a high pressure inert gas, such as helium, nucleation to produce clusters occurs. This development has as its most important result that clusters of virtually any material now can be produced and studied with relative ease. 

A common result of all the experiments is that most molecules quench the alkali resonance radiation very effectively with total cross sections ranging from 10 A2 to over 200 A2. However, if the molecule BC is replaced by a rare-gas atom, the quenching cross sections become very small at thermal energies. They are probably below 10 2 A2 for quenching by helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon.55 The latter result is easily understood in terms of Massey s adiabatic criterion.67 If Ar is a characteristic interaction range, v the impact velocity, and AE the energy difference between initial and final electronic states E(3p) and E(3s), respectively, then we must have a Massey parameter... 

Particular attention is given to relatively simple targets, e.g. atomic hydrogen, helium, the alkali and heavier rare gas atoms and small molecules, and some comparisons are made with the corresponding data for electron impact. This again highlights the differences and similarities in the scattering properties of the two projectiles, which have already been mentioned in subsection 1.6.1 and in Chapter 2. 

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