title: Rydberg electron interferometry
abstract: A recent quantum mechanical study [W. Isaacs and M. A. Morrison, Phys. Rev. A 57, R9 (1998)] discovered pronounced oscillations in cross sections for near-resonant energy transfer collisions of rare-gas atoms with initially aligned Rydberg atoms. We analyze such collisions for 17d(m)-->18p(m(')) transitions in the Ca-He system semiclassically and show that the oscillations arise from a phase interference process unique to Rydberg target states. In addition to explaining the origin of these structures, this analysis explains their disappearance when the relative Ca-He velocity goes to infinity and/or the energy defect vanishes and their dependence on the initial and final magnetic quantum numbers of the transition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019-0225, USA.
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Layton
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Parker