• Citer

Hydrogen atom in crossed electric and magnetic fields: transition from weak to strong electron-proton decentring

par Vincke, Marc ;LeDourneuf, M.;Baye, Daniel Jean
Référence Journal of Physics. B, Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics, 25, 12, page (2787-2808)
Publication Publié, 1992

Article révisé par les pairs

• Détails
• Contenu

Résumé :

The hydrogen atom in crossed electric and magnetic fields is studied, taking full account of centre-of-mass effects and using a variational basis which does not depend on the choice of a canonical representation, in particular of a gauge. Spectra and wavefunctions are computed for strong magnetic fields. From the analysis of results, general properties for arbitrary crossed fields are deduced. For small electric fields, the most strongly bound states remain essentially centred in the Coulomb well and show only perturbative departure from cylindrical symmetry, while highly excited states may reveal a partial decentring of the electron with respect to the proton, leading to a significant electric dipole moment. Increasing the electric field induces a transition to strong decentring with a very large dipole moment. Above a state-dependent critical electric field, only strongly decentred states remain bound. © 1992 IOP Publishing Ltd.