A theoretical method for treating collisions in the presence of multiple potentials is developed by employing the Schwinger variational principle. The current treatment agrees with the local (regularized) frame transformation theory and extends its c
apabilities. Specifically, the Schwinger variational approach gives results without the divergences that need to be regularized in other methods. Furthermore, it provides a framework to identify the origin of these singularities and possibly improve the local frame transformation. We have used the method to obtain the scattering parameters for different confining potentials symmetric in $x,y$. The method is also used to treat photodetachment processes in the presence of various confining potentials, thereby highlighting effects of the infinitely many closed channels. Two general features predicted are the vanishing of the total photoabsorption probability at {it every} channel threshold and the occurrence of resonances below the channel thresholds for negative scattering lengths. In addition, the case of negative ion photodetachment in the presence of uniform magnetic fields is also considered where unique features emerge at large scattering lengths.
The results of a theoretical investigation of an ultracold, neutral plasma composed of equal mass positive and negative charges are reported. In our simulations, the plasma is created by the fast dissociation of a neutral particle. The temperature of
the plasma is controlled by the relative energy of the dissociation. We studied the early time evolution of this system where the initial energy was tuned so that the plasma is formed in the strongly coupled regime. In particular, we present results on the temperature evolution and three body recombination. In the weakly coupled regime, we studied how an expanding plasma thermalizes and how the scattering between ions affects the expansion. Because the expansion causes the density to drop, the velocity distribution only evolves for a finite time with the final distribution depending on the number of particles and initial temperature of the plasma.
The results of a theoretical investigation of prompt many-body ionization are reported. Our calculations address an experiment that reported ionization in Rydberg gases for densities two orders of magnitude less than expected from ionization between
pairs of atoms. The authors argued that the results were due to the simultaneous interaction between many atoms. We performed classical calculations for many interacting Rydberg atoms with the ions fixed in space and have found that the many atom interaction does allow ionization at lower densities than estimates from two atom interactions. However, we found that the density fluctuations in a gas play a larger role. These two effects are an order of magnitude too small to account for the experimental results suggesting at least one other mechanism strongly affects ionization.
When atoms are exposed to intense laser or microwave pulses ~10% of the atoms are found in Rydberg states subsequent to the pulse, even if it is far more intense than required for static field ionization. The optical spectra of the surviving Li atoms
in the presence of a 38 GHz microwave field suggest how atoms survive an intense pulse. The spectra exhibit a periodic train of peaks 38 GHz apart. One peak is just below the limit, and with a 90 V/cm field amplitude the train extends from 300 GHz above the limit to 3000 GHz below it. The spectra and quantum mechanical calculations imply that the atoms survive in quasi stable states in which the Rydberg electron is in a weakly bound orbit infrequently returning to the ionic core during the intense pulse.
