Evidence for unnatural-parity contributions to electron-impact ionization of laser-aligned atoms

Armstrong, G. S. J.; Colgan, J.; Pindzola, M. S.; Amami, S.; Madison, D. H.; Pursehouse, J.; Nixon, K. L. and Murray, A. J. (2015). Evidence for unnatural-parity contributions to electron-impact ionization of laser-aligned atoms. Physical Review A, 92(3), article no. 032706.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.92.032706

Abstract

Recent measurements have examined the electron-impact ionization of excited-state laser-aligned Mg atoms. In this work we show that the ionization cross section arising from the geometry where the aligned atom is perpendicular to the scattering plane directly probes the unnatural parity contributions to the ionization amplitude. The contributions from natural parity partial waves cancel exactly in this geometry. Our calculations resolve the discrepancy between the nonzero measured cross sections in this plane and the zero cross section predicted by distorted-wave approaches. We demonstrate that this is a general feature of ionization from p-state targets by additional studies of ionization from excited Ca and Na atoms.

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About

• Item ORO ID
• 69713
• Item Type
• Journal Item
• ISSN
• 2469-9926
• Project Funding Details

• Funded Project Name	Project ID	Funding Body
  Newton Alumni Funding	Not Set	Royal Society
  BJT scholarship	Not Set	CNPq

• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) > Life, Health and Chemical Sciences
  Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
• Research Group
• Chemistry and Materials Research Group
• Copyright Holders
• © 2015 American Physical Society
• Depositing User
• Kate Nixon