Angular Momentum Partitioning and Hexacontatetrapole Moments in Impulsively Excited Argon Ions

Authors

H. M. Al-Khateeb, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
B. G. Birdsey, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Timothy J. Gay, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

November 2000

Comments

Published in Physical Review Letters, VOLUME 85, NUMBER 19, November 2000. Copyright © 2000 The American Physical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

We have studied polarized electron collisions with Ar in which the target is simultaneously ionized and excited to form Ar⁺(3p⁴(¹D)4p) states. We measured the integrated Stokes parameters of the subsequent fluorescence emitted by the ²F_7/2, ²F_5/2, ²D_5/2, and ²P_3/2 states along the direction of electron polarization. The Rubin-Bederson hypothesis is shown to hold for the L and S multipoles of these states. The electric quadrupole and hexadecapole of the 1D core are derived. By recoupling these moments with the electric quadrupole moment of the 4p electron, we calculate higher moments of the total ionic orbital angular momentum, including its hexacontatetrapole (64-pole) moment.