In this paper the new type of thermal corrections for the helium and helium-like atomic systems are introduced. These are thermal one-photon exchange between the bound electrons and nucleus as well as between the bound electrons induced by the blackbody radiation (BBR). All the derivations are given within the rigorous QED theory. It is shown that these thermal corrections are the same order in powers of $α$ (fine structure constant) as the well-known BBR-induced Stark shift but the different behaviour in temperature. The numerical results presented in this paper make possible to expect their significance for modern experiments and testing the fundamental interactions in helium.
Electron-electron correlation forms the basis of difficulties encountered in many-body physics. Accurate treatment of the correlation problem is likely to unravel some nice physical properties of matter embedded in the correlation. In an effort to tackle the many-body problem, an empirically determined symmetry-dependent partition fraction for the electron-electron interaction energy between two interacting states of helium atom is suggested in this study. Using the partition fraction and the lowest-order approximation of the multipole series expansion of the electron-electron interaction, a s…
Accurate local Kohn-Sham potentials have been constructed for the ground $1s^2 ^1S$ state and, in particular, for the lowest triplet $1s2s ^{3}S$ state of the helium atom, using electron densities from many-body calculations and the procedure of van Leeuwen and Baerends (Phys. Rev. A{\bf49}, 2138 (1994)). The resulting Kohn-Sham orbitals reproduce the many-body densities very accurately, and furthermore we have demonstrated that the negative of the energy eigenvalue of the outermost electron orbital agrees with the corresponding ionization energy with extreme accuracy. The procedure is also ap…
We have estimated the shift and broadening of the resonance lines in the spectrum of antiprotonic helium atoms $\bar{p}\mathrm{He}^{+}$ implanted in solid helium $^4$He. The application of the response function for crystalline helium has enabled determination of the contributions from the collective degrees of freedom to the shift and broadening. It occurs that the broadening due to the collective motion is negligible compared to the natural line width. The available pair-correlation functions for crystalline $^4$He have been applied for estimating the resonance-line shift due to collisions of…
Nonrelativistically forbidden, single-photon transition rates between low lying states of the helium atom are rigorously derived within quantum electrodynamics theory. Equivalence of velocity and length gauges, including relativistic corrections is explicitly demonstrated. Numerical calculations of matrix elements are performed with the use of high precision variational wave functions and compared to former results.
Collisions between tightly confined atoms can lead to ionization and hence to loss of atoms from the trap. We develop second-order perturbation theory for a tensorial perturbation of a spherically symmetric system and the theory is then applied to processes mediated by the spin-dipole interaction. Redistribution and loss mechanisms are studied for the case of spin-polarized metastable helium atoms and results obtained for the five lowest s states in the trap and trapping frequencies ranging from 1 kHz to 10 MHz.
The precise calculations of blackbody radiation (BBR)-induced Stark shifts and depopulation rates for low-lying states of helium atom with the use of variational approach are presented. An effect of the BBR-induced induced Stark-mixing of energy levels is considered. It is shown that this effect leads to a significant reduction of lifetimes of helium excited states. As a consequence the influence of Stark-mixing effect on the decay rates of metastable states in helium is discussed in context of formation processes of the cosmic microwave background.
A consistent quantum mechanical calculation of partial cross-sections leading to different final states of antiprotonic helium atom was performed. For the four-body scattering wave function, corresponding to the initial state, as well as for the antiprotonic helium wave function, appearing in the final tate, adiabatic approximations was used. Calculations were carried out for a wide range of antiprotonic helium states and incident energies of the antiproton. Obtained energy dependances of some cross sections show a rich low energy structure.
We present the first measurement for helium atoms of the tune-out wavelength at which the atomic polarizability vanishes. We utilise a novel, highly sensitive technique for precisely measuring the effect of variations in the trapping potential of confined metastable ($2^{3}S_{1}$) helium atoms illuminated by a perturbing laser light field. The measured tune-out wavelength of 413.0938($9_{Stat.}$)($20_{Syst.}$) nm compares well with the value predicted by a theoretical calculation (413.02(9) nm) which is sensitive to finite nuclear mass, relativistic, and quantum electro-dynamic (QED) effects. …
Ground state ionization potential of the He^4 atom is evaluated to be 5 945 204 221 (42) MHz. Along with lower order contributions, this result includes all effects of the relative orders alpha^4, alpha^3*m_e/m_alpha and alpha^5*ln^2(alpha).
The shift and broadening of the resonance lines in spectrum of the antiprotonic helium atoms $\bar{p}\mathrm{He}^{+}$ located in fluid and superfluid $^4$He have been calculated. The contributions to the shift and broadening from collective degrees of freedom in liquid $^4$He have been estimated using the phenomenological response function. Effects due to the interaction of $\bar{p}\mathrm{He}^{+}$ with a single $^4$He atom have been calculated in the quasistatic approximation using the experimental pair correlation function. It has been shown that an implanted $\bar{p}\mathrm{He}^{+}$ atom es…
We have calculated the total energy of the helium atom in higher excited state. The Coulomb and exchange integrals are evaluated via spherical harmonics. The interaction of the magnetic moments of the electrons between them and also with the magnetic moments of the nucleus was taken into account through a cosine term in the Coulomb potential. The obtained results are in agreement with experimental data.
We have created periodic nanoscale structures in a gold substrate with a lithography process using metastable triplet helium atoms that damage a hydrofobic resist layer on top of the substrate. A beam of metastable helium atoms is transversely cooled and guided through an intense standing-wave light field. Compared to commonly used low-power optical masks, a high-power light field (saturation parameter of 10E7) increases the confinement of the atoms in the standing-wave considerably, and makes the alignment of the experimental setup less critical. Due to the high internal energy of the metasta…
The Bethe logarithm for a large set of states of the helium atom is calculated with a precision of 12-14 significant digits. The numerical data is obtained for the case of infinite mass of a nucleus. Then we study the mass dependence and provide coefficients of the $m_e/M$ expansion, which allows us to calculate accurate values for the Bethe logarithm for any finite mass. An asymptotic expansion for the Rydberg states is analyzed and a high-quality numerical approximation is found, which ensures 7-8 digit accuracy for the $S$, $P$, and $D$ states of the helium atom.
We report scattering lengths for the singlet Sigma g +, triplet Sigma u + and quintet Sigma g + adiabatic molecular potentials relevant to collisions of two metastable (n=2 triplet S) helium atoms as a function of the uncertainty in these potentials. These scattering lengths are used to calculate experimentally observable scattering lengths, elastic cross sections and inelastic rates for any combination of states of the colliding atoms, at temperatures where the Wigner threshold approximation is valid.
The dynamics of the electron loss to the continuum (ELC) from the light neutral projectile positronium (Ps) atom in collision with the He atom is studied in the framework of the post collisional Coulomb Distorted Eikonal Approximation (CDEA). Both the fully differential (TDCS) and the double differential (DDCS) cross sections are investigated in the intermediate and high incident energies. Results are compared with the existing experiment and other theories, where possible.
This article is a continuation of our previous work (Phys. Rev. A 88, 032511 (2013)). The prefactors for the partial-wave expansion of the helium atom are derived. Due to series of cancellations, the partial-wave increments of the energy converge as $L^{-2N-6}$. The origin of these cancellations is identified from alternative expressions of the partial-wave energies. There is some evidence that the assumptions of regularities for the exact wavefunction can be reduced.
We present the detection of the highly forbidden $2^{3\!}S_1 \rightarrow 3^{3\!}S_1$ atomic transition in helium, the weakest transition observed in any neutral atom. Our measurements of the transition frequency, upper state lifetime, and transition strength agree well with published theoretical values, and can lead to tests of both QED contributions and different QED frameworks. To measure such a weak transition, we developed two methods using ultracold metastable ($2^{3\!}S_1$) helium atoms: low background direct detection of excited then decayed atoms for sensitive measurement of the transi…
A theoretical investigation of the three-photon transition rates $ 2^1P_1\rightarrow 2^1S_0\;,1^1S_0 $ and $ 2^3P_2\rightarrow 2^1S_0\;,1^1S_0 $ for the helium atom is presented. Photon energy distributions and precise values of the nonrelativistic transition rates are obtained with employment of correlated wave functions of the Hylleraas type. The possible experiments for the tests of the Bose-Einstein statistics for multiphoton systems are discussed.
This article presents a new experiment aiming at BEC of metastable helium atoms. It describes the design of a high flux discharge source of atoms and a robust laser system using a DBR diode coupled with a high power Yb doped fiber amplifier for manipulating the beam of metastable atoms. The atoms are trapped in a small quartz cell in an extreme high vacuum. The trapping design uses an additional laser (repumper) and allows the capture of a large number of metastable helium atoms (approximately $10^9$) in a geometry favorable for loading a tight magnetostatic trap.
We develop an approach to describing coherent Compton scattering of photons in the keV energy range from hydrogen and helium atoms based on a relativistic version of the AA-approximation within the standard perturbative S-matrix formalism. The resulting formulas for the cross section take into account the effects of the electron boundness and correctly reproduce the behavior of the cross section at large photon energies, where it goes to Thomson formula, which coincides with the Klein-Nishina-Tamm formula for the cross section in the non-relativistic limit.
We investigate the electromagnetic transition probabilities for the helium atom embedded in a superstrong magnetic field taking into account the finite nuclear mass. We address the regime γ=100-10000 a.u. studying several excited states for each symmetry, i.e. for the magnetic quantum numbers 0,-1,-2,-3, positive and negative z parity and singlet and triplet symmetry. The oscillator strengths as a function of the magnetic field, and in particular the influence of the finite nuclear mass on the oscillator strengths are shown and analyzed.
The nonrelativistic ionization energy levels of a helium atom are calculated for $S$, $P$, $D$ and $F$ states. The calculations are based on the variational method of "exponential" expansion. The convergence of the calculated energy levels is studied as a function of the number of basis functions $N$. This allows us to claim that the obtained energy values (including the values for the states with a nonzero angular momentum) are accurate up to 28-35 significant digits. Calculations of the nonrelativistic ionization energy of the negative hydrogen ion H$^-$ are also presented.
A fully relativistic calculation of the double photoionization of helium-like atoms is presented. The approach is based on the partial-wave representation of the Dirac continuum states and accounts for the retardation in the electron-electron interaction as well as the higher-order multipoles of the absorbed photon. The electron-electron interaction is taken into account to the leading order of perturbation theory. The relativistic effects are shown to become prominent already for the medium-Z ions, changing the shape and the asymptotic behaviour of the photon energy dependence of the ratio of…
We demonstrate the control of $^4$He(2$^3$S$_1$)-$^7$Li(2$^2$S$_{1/2}$) chemi-ionization reactions by all-optical electron-spin-state preparation of both atomic species prior to the collision process. Our results demonstrate that chemi-ionization is strongly suppressed (enhanced) for non-spin-conserving (spin-conserving) collisions at thermal energies. These findings are in good agreement with a model based on spin angular momentum coupling of the prepared atomic states to the quasi-molecular states. Small deviations from the model indicate the contribution of the $^4Σ^+$ channel to the reacti…
Hyperspherical partial wave approach has been applied here in the study of double photoionization of the helium atom for equal energy sharing geometry at 20 eV excess energy. Calculations have been done both in length and velocity gauges and are found to agree with each other, with the CCC results and with experiments and exhibit some advantages of the corresponding three particle wave function over other wave functions in use.
An experiment is proposed to excite the 'forbidden' 1s2s 3S1 - 1s2s 1S0 magnetic dipole (M1) transition at 1557 nm in a collimated and slow atomic beam of metastable helium atoms. It is demonstrated that an excitation rate of 5000 /s can be realised with the beam of a 2W narrowband telecom fiber laser intersecting the atomic beam perpendicularly. A Doppler-limited sub-MHz spectroscopic linewidth is anticipated. Doppler-free excitation of 2% of trapped and cooled atoms may be realised in a one-dimensional optical lattice geometry, using the 2W laser both for trapping and spectroscopy. The very …
We perform fully quantum mechanical calculations in the binary approximation of the emission and absorption profiles of the sodium $3s$-$3p$ and potassium $4s$-$4p$ resonance lines under the influence of a helium perturbing gas. We use carefully constructed potential energy surfaces and transition dipole moments to compute the emission and absorption coefficients at temperatures from 158 to 3000 K. Contributions from quasi-bound states are included. The resulting red and blue wing profiles agree well with previous theoretical calculations and with experimental measurements.
We investigate the laser-assisted single XUV photon double ionization of ground state helium. By solving full six-dimensional time-dependent schr{ö}dinger equation, we study the correlation and angular distribution. The discussion in joint energy and angular distributions reveals the competition in odd and even parity double ionization processes in the presence of weak laser field. The emission angle between two photoelectrons can be adjusted by the laser parameters. We depicts how the laser field enhance and/or enable the back-to-back and side-by-side emission of double ionization.
We present experimental results on the two-body loss rates in a magneto-optical trap of metastable helium atoms. Absolute rates are measured in a systematic way for several laser detunings ranging from -5 to -30 MHz and at different intensities, by monitoring the decay of the trap fluorescence. The dependence of the two-body loss rate coefficient $β$ on the excited state ($2^3P_2$) and metastable state ($2^3S_1$) populations is also investigated. From these results we infer a rather uniform rate constant $K_{sp}=(1{\pm}0.4)\times10^{-7}$ cm$^3$/s.
We observe high-resolution diffraction patterns of a thermal-energy helium-atom beam reflected from a microstructured surface grating at grazing incidence. The grating consists of 10-$μ$m-wide Cr strips patterned on a quartz substrate and has a periodicity of 20 $μ$m. Fully-resolved diffraction peaks up to the $7^{\rm th}$ order are observed at grazing angles up to 20 mrad. With changes in de Broglie wavelength or grazing angle the relative diffraction intensities show significant variations which shed light on the nature of the atom-surface interaction potential. The observations are explaine…
Improvements in both theory and frequency metrology of few-electron systems such as hydrogen and helium have enabled increasingly sensitive tests of quantum electrodynamics (QED), as well as ever more accurate determinations of fundamental constants and the size of the nucleus. At the same time advances in cooling and trapping of neutral atoms have revolutionized the development of increasingly accurate atomic clocks. Here, we combine these fields to reach the highest precision on an optical tranistion in the helium atom to date by employing a Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a magic wavel…
In this article we present triple differential cross sections for equal energy sharing kinematics for double photoionization of the helium atom at 20 and 40eV above threshold in the framework of the hyperspherical partial wave theory. This supplements our earlier work \cite{DCP03} in which we were successful in showing fully, gauge independence of the results in our formalism. Also in this work we treat cases in which the Stokes parameter S$_1 < 1$ so that partial polarization of the photon source is also taken into account. Agreement in shape with the Convergent Close Coupling \cite{BK03,HB98…
The usefulness of study of hyperfine splitting in the hydrogen atom is limited on a level of 10 ppm by our knowledge of the proton structure. One way to go beyond 10 ppm is to study a specific difference of the hyperfine structure intervals 8 Delta nu_2 - Delta nu_1. Nuclear effects for are not important this difference and it is of use to study higher-order QED corrections.
We perform quantum electrodynamic calculations of the ionization energy of the $1s3d$ states of the $^4$He atom, including a complete evaluation of the $mα^6$ correction. We find a large contribution from the nonradiative part of this correction, which has not been accounted for in previous investigations. The additional contribution shifts theoretical predictions for ionization energies by about 10$\,σ$. Despite this shift, we confirm the previously reported systematic deviations between measured experimental results and theoretical predictions for transitions involving $3D$ states. The reaso…
The differential and total cross sections for electron capture by positrons from helium atoms are calculated using a first-order distorted wave theory satisfying the Coulomb boundary conditions. In this formalism a parametric potential is used to describe the electron screening in a consistent and realistic manner. The present procedure is self consistent because (i) it satisfies the correct boundary conditions and post-prior symmetry, and (ii) the potential and the electron binding energies appearing in the transition amplitude are consistent with the wave functions describing the collision s…
We calculate the atomic structure of hydrogen and helium, atoms and molecules in an intense magnetic field, analytically and numerically with a judiciously chosen basis.
The dynamic dipole polarizabilities for the four lowest triplet states ($2\,^3S$, $3\,^3S$, $2\,^3P$ and $3\,^3P$) of helium are calculated using the B-spline configuration interaction method. Present values of the static dipole polarizabilities in the length, velocity and acceleration gauges are in good agreement with the best Hylleraas results. Also the tune-out wavelengths in the range from 400 nm to 4.2~$μ$m for the four lowest triplet states are identified, and the magic wavelengths in the range from 460~nm to 3.5~$μ$m for the $2\,^3S \to 3\,^3S$, $2\,^3S \to 2\,^3P$, and $2\,^3S \to 3\,^…
We have investigated cold ionizing heteronuclear collisions in dilute mixtures of metastable (2 3S1) 3He and 4He atoms, extending our previous work on the analogous homonuclear collisions [R. J. W. Stas et al., PRA 73, 032713 (2006)]. A simple theoretical model of such collisions enables us to calculate the heteronuclear ionization rate coefficient, for our quasi-unpolarized gas, in the absence of resonant light (T = 1.2 mK): K34(th) = 2.4*10^-10 cm^3/s. This calculation is supported by a measurement of K34 using magneto-optically trapped mixtures containing about 1*10^8 atoms of each species,…
Polarizabilities, dispersion coefficients, and long-range atom-surface interaction potentials are calculated for the n=2 triplet and singlet states of helium using highly accurate, variationally determined, wave functions.
Bound and resonance states of helium atom have been investigated inside a quantum dot by using explicitly correlated Hylleraas type basis set within the framework of stabilization method. To be specific, precise energy eigenvalues of bound 1sns (1Se) [n = 1-6] states and the resonance parameters i.e. positions and widths of 1Se states due to 2sns [n = 2-5] and 2pnp [n = 2-5] configuration of confined helium below N = 2 ionization threshold of He+ have been estimated. The two-parameter (Depth and Width) finite oscillator potential is used to represent the confining potential representing the qu…
We investigate the finite nuclear mass corrections in the helium atom in order to resolve a significant disagreement between the $2^3S - 2^3P$ and $2^3S - 2^1S$ transition isotope shifts. These two transitions lead to discrepant results for the nuclear charge radii difference between $^4$He and $^3$He. The accurate treatment of the finite nuclear mass effects is quite complicated and requires the use of the quantum field theoretical approach. We derive $α^6 m^2/M$ correction with the help of nonrelativistic QED and dimensional regularization of the three body Coulombic system, and present accu…
We present an investigation on the resonances of a doubly excited helium atom in a strong magnetic field covering the regime B = 0-100 a.u. A full-interaction approach which is based on an anisotropic Gaussian basis set of one-particle functions being nonlinearly optimized for each field strength is employed. Accurate results for a total of 17 resonances below the threshold of consisting of He+ in the N=2 state are reported in this work. This includes states with total magnetic quantum numbers M=0,-1,-2 and even z-parity. The corresponding binding energies are compared to approximate energies …
We present a fully {\it ab initio}, non-perturbative, time-dependent approach to describe single and double ionization of helium by proton and antiproton impact. A flexible and accurate finite-element discrete-variable-representation is applied to discretize the problem on the radial grid in spherical coordinates. Good agreement with the most recent experimental data for absolute angle-integrated cross sections is obtained over a wide range of incident projectile energies between 3 keV and 6 MeV. Furthermore, angle-differential cross sections for two-electron ejection are predicted for a proto…
High precision spectroscopy on the $2 \ ^3 S \rightarrow 2 \ ^1 S$ transition is possible in ultracold optically trapped helium but the accuracy is limited by the ac-Stark shift induced by the optical dipole trap. To overcome this problem, we have built a trapping laser system at the predicted magic wavelength of 319.8 nm. Our system is based on frequency conversion using commercially available components and produces over 2 W of power at this wavelength. With this system, we show trapping of ultracold atoms, both thermal ($\sim0.2 \ \mathrm{μK}$) and in a Bose-Einstein condensate, with a trap…
Collinear configurations of the helium-like atomic systems, relevant, e.g., for the quasifree mechanism of the double photoionization of helium, are studied, parameterized by the single scalar parameter $-1\leq λ\leq1$ ("collinear parameter") where $λ=0$ corresponds to the electron-nucleus ($\textbf{e-n}$) coalescence and $λ=1$ corresponds to the electron-electron ($\textbf{e-e}$) coalescence. In general, $λ>0$ corresponds to the \textbf{n-e-e} configuration, and $λ<0$ to the \textbf{e-n-e} configuration. Simple mathematical representations of the expectation values of the Dirac delta function…
Hylleraas-Configuration Interaction (Hy-CI) calculations on the ground $1^1$S state of helium atom are presented using s-, p-, d-, and f-Slater orbitals of both real and complex form. Techniques of construction of adapted configurations, optimization of the orbital exponents and structure of the wave function expansion are explored. A new method to evaluate the two-electron kinetic energy integrals occurring in the Hy-CI method has been tested here and compared with other methods. The non-relativistic Hy-CI values are approximately 10 picohartree accurate, about 2.2 x 10$^{-6}$ cm$^{-1}$. The …
We estimate the nuclear polarizability correction to atomic transition frequencies in various helium isotopes. This effect is non-negligible for high precision tests of quantum electrodynamics or accurate determination of the nuclear charge radius from spectroscopic measurements in helium atoms and ions. In particular, it amounts to $28(3)$ kHz for 1S-2S transition in 4He+.
Using singlet S states of the helium atom as an example, I describe precise calculation of energy levels in few-electron atoms. In particular, a complete set of effective operators is derived which generates O(m*alpha^6) relativistic and radiative corrections to the Schr"odinger energy. Average values of these operators can be calculated using a variational Schr"odinger wave function.
We test the applicability of density functional theory (DFT) to spectral perturbations taking an example of a Cs atom surrounded by superfluid helium. The atomic DFT of helium is used to obtain the distribution of helium atoms around the impurity atom, and the electronic DFT is applied to the excitations of the atom, averaging over the ensemble of helium configurations. The shift and broadening of the D1 and D2 absorption lines are quite well reproduced by theory, suggesting that the DFT may be useful for describing spectral perturbations in more complex environments.
A study of gravitational properties of matter presents a fundamental interest. The possibility of investigation of quantum gravitational states of matter by the example of helium atom is shown. The capability of the existence of helium quantum states in the gravitational field of a cold neutron star is examined. Observation of such states is done with the help of rotating neutron star's magnetic field. Periodically changing magnetic field induces transitions between gravitational states of helium atom and leads to the appearance of gravitational transitions' spectral lines in gigahertz frequen…
We consider a neutralization of excited antiprotonic helium ion accompanied by antiproton transitions to lower states in collisions with helium atoms $(\bar{p}\mathrm{He}^{2+})_{nl} + \mathrm{He} \rightarrow \left[ (\bar{p}\mathrm{He}^{2+})_{n_f l_f} e\right]_{1s} + \mathrm{He}^+$ in low-temperature medium. Interactions in the input and output channels are taken similar to the potentials of $\mathrm{H}^+ - \mathrm{He}$ ($X^1Σ$) and $\mathrm{H} - \mathrm{He}^+$ ($A^1Σ$) systems, respectively. The final term is shifted down by the antiproton transition energy. Therefore initial and final terms c…
We calculate the energies of ground and three low lying excited states of confined helium atom centered in an impenetrable spherical box. We perform the calculation by employing variational method with two-parameter variational forms for the correlated two-particle wave function. With just two variational parameters we get quite accurate results for both ground and excited state energies.
The author supposes a capability of transition doubly excited configurations of separate atoms to a superconducting state. The conditions of this transition are determined and the experiments for its detection are offered. The capability of join of superconducting atoms in a superconducting condensate is considered. The capability of spontaneous formation of similar condensates in atmospheres of the Earth and Sun is considered.
There is presently disagreement between theory and experiment as well as between different theoretical calculations concerning the fine-structure splitting of the lowest P state of the neutral helium atom. We believe that we have found a minor error in the formulas used by Drake et al. (Can. J. Phys. 80, 1195 (2002)) in their calculations, and we may have an explanation how the error has occurred. To what extent this might resolve (part of) the discrepancy is not known at present.
We examine the entanglement in the ground states of helium and helium-like ions using an original Hylleraas expansion. The von Neumann and linear entropies of the reduced density matrix are accurately computed by performing the Schmidt decomposition of the S singlet spatial wavefunctions. The results presented are more accurate than currently available in published literature.
We present a variational basis-set calculational scheme for elastic scattering of positronium atom by helium atom in S wave and apply it to the calculation of the scattering length. Highly correlated trial functions with appropriate symmetry are used in this calculation. We report numerical result for the scattering length in atomic unit: $(1.0\pm 0.1)a_0$. This corresponds to a zero-energy elastic cross section of $(4.0\pm 0.8)πa_0^2$.
The recoil, vacuum polarization and electron vertex corrections of first and second orders in the fine structure constant $α$ and the ratio of electron to muon and electron to α-particle masses are calculated in the hyperfine splitting of the $1s^{(e)}_{1/2}2s^{(μ)}_{1/2}$ state of muonic helium atom (μe ^4_2He) on the basis of a perturbation theory. We obtain total result for the muonically excited state hyperfine splitting $Δν^{hfs}=4295.66$ MHz which improves previous calculations due to the account of new corrections and more accurate treatment of the electron vertex contribution.
We describe an experimental setup comprised of a discharge source for supersonic beams of metastable helium atoms and a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for ultracold lithium atoms that makes it possible to study Penning ionization and associative ionization processes at high ion count rates. The cationic reaction products are analyzed using a novel ion detection scheme which allows for mass selection, a high ion extraction efficiency and a good collision-energy resolution. The influence of elastic He-Li collisions on the steady-state Li atom number in the MOT is described, and the collision data ar…
