Cooper minima in the transitions from low-excited and Rydberg states of alkali-metal atoms

TL;DR

This paper investigates Cooper minima in alkali-metal atoms' transition probabilities and photoionization cross-sections, using models to compare with experimental data and discovering a new minimum in rubidium Rydberg states.

Contribution

It introduces a Coulomb and quasiclassical approach to analyze Cooper minima and reports the discovery of a new minimum in rubidium Rydberg states.

Findings

Identified the range of applicability for the quasiclassical model.

Discovered a new Cooper minimum in rubidium Rydberg states.

Compared theoretical results with experimental data for validation.

Abstract

The structure of the Cooper minima in the transition probabilities and photoionization cross-sections for low-excited and Rydberg nS, nP, nD and nF states of alkali-metal atoms has been studied using a Coulomb approximation and a quasiclassical model. The range of applicability of the quasiclassical model has been defined from comparison with available experimental and theoretical data on dipole moments, oscillator strengths, and photoionization cross-sections. A new Cooper minimum for transitions between rubidium Rydberg states has been found.